Thesis Project Essay Example for Free

Thesis Project Essay My senior year of college required me to do a thesis project.   As a drama major I had to choose and direct a full length play.   From the moment I began choosing this project, until its completion; I learned a lot about myself, mainly how I approached and solved problems.   I had two primary goals to focus on while working on this.   The first and biggest, I had to satisfy the panel of reviewing professors before opening night.   The second, I had to please a college audience of savvy theatergoers, in addition to making good changes requested by the professors.    As one might imagine the road to completion came with some bumps. First off, I had to choose my play, and then the cast of characters.   Choosing it came more easily to me than most.   I wanted a contemporary play and found one I liked very much in the library quite easily, David Rabe’s Hurlyburly.  Ã‚   Finding the right cast proved more difficult than I imagined.   We had a few good actors who I knew I wanted for the principal roles.   Generally the department frowned on having more than one set of auditions. However, I could call myself a friend of several of these key players; so I approached them before auditions and begged them to try out for the play.   I had an open mind to any surprises, and some occurred, but I ended up casting my preconceived choices in the main roles.   I never had high hopes for some of the lesser roles, but luckily the right people auditioned for those.   So with some luck and begging, I had my cast. It turned out that casting the play was the easiest thing I had to do, next part editing.   If I had not edited this play it would have gone on for well over three hours, which I could not accept, nor could the professors.   I had an editing assistant who simply started crossing out pages haphazardly.   I basically ignored her recommendations and made edits of my own.   I stubbornly kept the play too long, which I regretted later. Lastly, came directing.   I quickly found that conceiving an entire play differed greatly from directing a single scene for a class.   Mainly, with all the time on our hands until opening, I had to get the most out of my actors.   At the same time, actors do not enjoy a director telling them how to do their job.   One simply needs to elicit more out of them.   I learned to do that over the course of rehearsals, by asserting myself more, coupled with having a clear vision of how I wanted things to look. Luckily the play opened to good reviews.   I learned a lot about myself in the process.   I met each of my challenges choosing a play, casting, editing, and directing head on.   I enjoyed it, but would give serious thought before doing it again.

Relationship Between Management And Leadership Management Essay

Relationship Between Management And Leadership Management Essay 1.1: Explain the relationship between management and leadership. Management and leadership, these two terms are often used interchangeably; management is more usually viewed as getting things done through other people in order to achieve organizational goals. The managers may react to specific situations and more concerned with short term problem solving. Management is regarded as related to people working in a structured organization and with prescribed roles. The emphasis of leadership is on interpersonal behaviour in a broader sense. Belbin (1997, p 98) suggests that, there is a clear implication that leadership is not part of the job but quality that can be brought to a job à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The work that leadership encompasses in the context clearly is not assigned but comes about spontaneously. Leadership is one of the many assets of a successful manager which they must have. A leader can be a manager but it is not necessary that a manager must be a leader. The most important aim of a manager is to maximize the organizational output through managerial performance. But leader always seeks new possibilities and understand new possibilities in organization. Most of the workgroups are more loyal to leaders than managers. According to John P. Kotter (1999, p 67), All the managers must know that how to lead as well as manage. Because in this era, organizations may face the threat of loss if their managers do not know how to lead as well as manage. Organizations hire managers and give formal authority to manage people and other activities to fulfil organizational goals. Employees gladly follow the leaders because they want to, not because they have to. Leaders may not have the power to give rewards to the people. However, employees give power to the leaders by fulfilling what they want. On the other hand, managers may rely on formal authority to get employees to complete goals. Management, by its very nature, is challenging, precise, detailed and involves specific and usually, timed, actions.   Leadership, on the other hand,  requires a much broader sense and involves aligning, goal-setting, vision-sharing, inspiration and an inherent lack of any time criticality.  Good management includes aspects of good leadership and good leadership includes aspects of good management.   A leader devoid of management skill and a manager lacking any leadership capability will  each fail.  From my point of view, management is a science and can be learned. Leadership, however, is an art. While some  of the  capabilities necessary to being a great leader can be acquired over time, much of what makes  terrific  leaders great is inborn or, at the very least, was learned much earlier in life.   A successful organisation  cannot exist without both strong leadership and great management.   Over time, an organization will need to expand its team of managers to keep up with  its increasing number of deliverables.   The leadership team, however, will grow at a much slower rate or, perhaps, not at all.   Too many leaders, like too many chefs, will really foul things up. Despite a continuing debate on differences between management and leadership, there is a close relationship between them and it is not easy to separate them as distinct activities. 1.2: Analyse how management and leadership style impacts on the achievement of the objectives of your chosen organisation. Leadership in Nokia As the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia Group, Jorma Ollila has very high educational background, he earned a masters degree in political science from the University of Helsinki, a masters degree in economics from the London School of Economics and a masters degree in science from the Helsinki University of Technology. In 1995, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in political science from the University of Helsinki, and in 1998, an honorary doctorate degree in technology from the Helsinki University of Technology. As a worldwide successful leader, he is an expert in the information and communications technology industry, he has plenty experience in this area. He does not only serve for Nokia, he also serves on the boards of Ford Motor Company, Otava Books and Magazines Group Ltd and UPM-Kymmene Corporation. Besides these, he is also a member of several professional organizations in the information and communications technology industry. Jorma has earned the worldwide respect. He is an Honorary Citizen of Beijing, China, and holds the Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany; the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic; and the Officers Cross, Order of White Star, Estonia. He is Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau and Commander, 1st Class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland. Jorma has led Nokias reinvent as a company that sets the benchmark for mobile communications. As CEO he presented an ambitious strategy that successfully restructured the former industrial conglomerate and accelerated its growth into one of the most successful companies in both the mobile phone and telecommunications infrastructure markets. Under his leadership, Nokia has achieved global market leadership and is listed on six major exchanges. Jorma has his distinctive leadership; he concerns both employees and employees tasks. He provides equal opportunities and openness towards people and peoples new ideas are also key elements he wants to nourish. Employees are encouraged to be responsible for their own development and to take advantage of the various development opportunities available He encourages his employees to open discussion and debate, We listen to the views of our employees and act on them when designing our people policies and practices Jorma said. He also set up the investing-in-people program (IIP), which is a coaching and training program for the employees; such programs are very much focus on develop the managers. He provides the flexible working time to the employees; depending on the local market conditions, employees may take advantage of flexi time including flexible working hours and part-time working. Furthermore, Nokia has very good welfare service for the employees, and very good working environme nt. Moreover, he was also concerned about employees tasks. The concept of Nokia value is a guideline for the employees, wherever they are in the world. In order to encourage employees to working hard on the tasks, Nokia has Bonus system, which based on the employees working result. By applying the 360-Degree Feedback analysis, we can see that Jorma is a successful charming leader, who has achieved a high level of self-knowledge. He has the ability to motivate his employees, and very persistence on his career. He owns plenty leaderships, he know is business very well, and set clear performance to the employees. Besides, he is respected in the worldwide. Task 2: Understand management and leadership skills 2.1: Explain the personal and professional skills required for effective management of your chosen organisation. Leadership Requirements / Needs/ Skills: Leadership, as defined by most dictionaries, means to go before, or with, to show the way; to induce. Every organization needs a leader (and preferably several leaders) to show the way to others as the organization strives to define and achieve its goals. Whether these goals are entrepreneurial or humanitarian or both the leaders work is to instill a sense of purpose and passion to the work that the organization undertakes. Identifying, developing and sustaining leadership within the organization must be one of its strategic objectives. Without leaders at every level of organization, the organization may well under-perform. It may miss strategic opportunities, stifle innovation, underutilize its employees, and fall short of its goals in customer service, quality, productivity, and profitability. Russell Consulting, Inc. can guide an organization in identifying and developing its leaders. Organizations also help to develop the key competencies that will help develop and sustain leadership, but also sustain your companys long-term success. Leadership at every level makes all of the difference as to whether the company will be around for the long haul. Companies should invest in leadership today to sustain their success for tomorrow and beyond. The Proposed Competencies of Leadership to be develepoed at RCI: RCI has been developing leaders in its client organizations since 1987. It has designed and developed leadership programs that help define an ambitious role for leaders at every level and then build the competencies to fulfill this role. Some of the competencies that RCI has defined as core to the role of leaders include: Strategic Thinking Coaching Problem Solving Decision Making Systems Thinking Delegation Performance Management and Accountability Inspiring a Shared Vision Managing Conflict Building and Sustaining Teamwork Leading Change Quality and Productivity Improvement Servant Leadership Emotional Intelligence Innovation and Creativity Customer Service Employee Development Develop Trust Dealing with Ambiguity 360 degree feedback leadership style Transformational Leadership style Participative Leadership Participative Leadership Skills required by a manager: A perfect manager is a boon for any company. A good manager needs to have a strong knowledge about the functioning of a company. There are few who are born with natural skills where as there are some who need to work their way towards it. So, what are the skills needed to be a good manager? Which are the qualities he/she needs to have in order to ensure a smooth sailing at work? Well, lets look at what makes a good manager and all about corporate leadership. What are the Skills needed to be a Good Manager? A good manager should have all the basic leadership skills. There are various ways in which a person can handle different situations through various leadership roles. A good leader should be able to guide his/her teammates to be able to perform well. Leadership does not mean dominating people. One of the most important skills of a good manager is the knowledge of effective time management. A person who manages to plan the schedule and divide time equally between tasks can be an asset for the organization. A good manager should also have a visionary sight for the benefits of the company. He/she should plan the future steps for the growth of the company. For a team to perform well, a good manager should be able to motivate the team for their tasks. He/she should encourage talents. In case of people with low performances, he/she should tackle the situation with professionalism to reach a positive conclusion. Even in a crisis situation, a person with good managerial skills should be able to perform well. He/she should be mentally tough to handle any kind of situations. He/she should also be responsible enough to maintain a good office atmosphere. A manager should be sensitive towards others in the workplace. A happy atmosphere would only lead to more productivity for the company. With these skills, a person can definitely strive to be a good manager and thus be an asset for any organization! 2.2: Compare any four (4) skills and attributes of three (3) successful leaders you know. LEADERSHIP OF JORMA OLLILA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia Group, Jorma Ollila has very high educational background expert in the information and communications technology industry, he has plenty experience in this area Jorma has his distinctive leadership; he concerns both employees and employees tasks. He provides equal opportunities and openness towards people and peoples new ideas are also key elements he wants to nourish. We listen to the views of our employees and act on them when designing our people policies and practices Jorma said. He provides the flexible working time to the employees; depending on the local market conditions, employees may take advantage of flexi time including flexible working hours and part-time working. he was also concerned about employees tasks. LEADERSHIP OF REYMIN ZHANG His leadership is more task-orientated He set up a very clear and straightforward goal for his employees, and renews the companys regulations In order to achieve companys goal to build up the international brand, he divided the tasks to each department in a very specific way. He attaches importance to the employees recruitment, he recruits thousand of new blood every year, additionally, he have very close contact with the well known universities, 15% of his employees were signed contract with Hair when in the last year in the university. 2.3: Assess the expected impact of your own leadership styles on your work How Leadership Can Affect Change In An Organization: The leadership of an organization provides the direction and guidance for the future and can create an environment for growth or destruction dependent on the leadership style and technique that is utilized.    It is inevitable that there will be changes in an organization, whether it is related to downsizing, economic issues or location changes; these are just a few of the current changes that are being dealt with nation-wide.    The leadership of an organization sets the tone and process for others to follow during change.    Decisions that are made and the actions of the leadership mandate what the future holds for an organizations employees. Leaders have different traits that are inherent in their management techniques, those traits can be magnified during change and can help or hinder their leadership opportunities.    During organizational change, goals are set and a leader must possess the aptitude to help employees reach those goals.    A study by R.M. Stogdill discovered that the conception of a leader was someone who acquired status by showing the ability helps a group attain its goals (Yukl, 10.2.1, 2010).    Related to that study, it was noted that relevant traits included intelligence, alertness to the needs of others, understanding of the task, initiative and persistence in dealing with problems, self-confidence, and desire to accept responsibility and occupy a position of dominance and control in leaders (Yukl, 10.2.1, 2010).    Not all traits are universal, as noted by the study by Stogdill (Yukl, 2010), but the relevant traits appear to be found in many leaders.    Self-confidence is a powerful tra it for a leader to possess, but excessive self-confidence can make a leader overly optimistic about the likely success of a risky venture, and it may result in rash decisions and denial of evidence that a plan is flawed. A small company had been acquired by a larger firm. With this, the current leader had been let go and a new leader was appointed to take charge. Anticipate and Prepare-Being acquired by a larger firm may bring more awareness to a company or provide better benefits, but several cons may get in the way at first. During a transition period, many employees are sometimes left without a job, or have decided to move on to other things in the wake of unsatisfied changes. It was no different when a well-liked president of the company was phased out due to financial setbacks. The firm took a lengthy process to make a move until finally appointing an internal employee to serve as the interim president. Left with a lot of the dirty work, the new leader immediately went to work and restored and initiated productivity with his employees. His biggest attribute was that he was prepared for this new role before he was even appointed as the new president. His natural work ethic had already groomed him for charismatic leadership and when the opportunity for advancement came, he wasted no time in taking charge and continuing the work. Likewise, a strategic leader will be able to pick up the pieces and restore work productivity regardless of a drastic change. Being the cheerleader and still an enforcer, Teams leaders are versatile figures held accountable for their employees work performance. Get positioned for the future- A team leaders major objective is to keep worker performance at a high and encourage improving results that would ultimately lead to a brighter outlook and future. Preparing employees now enables them to do such. Team Leaders have a weekly, monthly or even yearly report to give so their main motivation would be to constantly focus on the progress and performance of their individuals. In order to maintain and continue a future of positive results, an effective team leader will use strategic planning in his/her strategic management. Mentally, he/she will find ways to encourage employees to perform high to obtain team incentives, but will also encourage strategic planning at the individual level. Training employees to strategically plan in their prospective territories will alleviate the leader with multiple responsibilities and generate a more productive outcome in the work area. With a focus on the individual employee, a team leader will have the power t o influence his/her employees to control their progress and look towards a better outcome. One department is flourishing with work productivity, while one department is far behind. Focus on the right energies- In a business world where deadlines are demanding and profits are important, companies and their leaders will hold work productivity as a high priority. A strategic leader will observe less than optimum circumstance and move quickly to create beneficial change. Saving time by focusing only on the right energies will help a company profit. For example, an employee serves in two departments, splitting duties between each. It is evident that his/her skills are stronger in research and development rather than in the sales department. A strategic leader may see more value in changing this employees role to work in this stronger area of expertise. At the same time, a strategic leader will realize that this employee may be able to provide unique insight across both functions that others can not. Strategic leaders will observe these situations quickly and waste no time in shifting employees to areas where both the individual and organizations can benefit the most . These glimpses give you some helpful scenarios of how strategic leadership can be applied in your work environment. Should you have any future problems with work productivity, profits or even issues with your employees, address those concerns with some professional guidance and youll discover how an investment in your team will result is bottom line results. Task 3: Be able to apply theory in an organisational context 3.1: Select four (4) appropriate theories of management and leadership to identify leadership requirements in given situations in your chosen organisation 1. Trait Theories: Similar in some ways to Great Man theories, trait theories assume that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to leadership. Trait theories often identify particular personality or behavioral characteristics shared by leaders. If particular traits are key features of leadership, then how do we explain people who possess those qualities but are not leaders? This question is one of the difficulties in using trait theories to explain leadership. 2. Contingency Theories: Contingency theories of leadership focus on particular variables related to the environment that might determine which particular style of leadership is best suited for the situation. According to this theory, no leadership style is best in all situations. Success depends upon a number of variables, including the leadership style, qualities of the followers and aspects of the situation. 3. Situational Theories: Situational theories propose that leaders choose the best course of action based upon situational variables. Different styles of leadership may be more appropriate for certain types of decision-making. 4. Behavioral Theories: Behavioural theories of leadership are based upon the belief that great leaders are made, not born. Rooted in behaviourism, this leadership theory focuses on the actions of leaders not on mental qualities or internal states. According to this theory, people can learn to become leaders through teaching and observation. 5. Participative Theories: Participative leadership theories suggest that the ideal leadership style is one that takes the input of others into account. These leaders encourage participation and contributions from group members and help group members feel more relevant and committed to the decision-making process. In participative theories, however, the leader retains the right to allow the input of others. The Advantages of Emerging Leadership Theories During the first half of the 20th century, leadership theories focused on traits and skills that were inherent in leaders and assumed that leaders were born, not made. Around 1960, new theories of leadership were developed that considered the impact of followers and tasks on leader effectiveness. These emerging styles, also called modern or current styles, include contingency models, situational and transformational leadership. Predictability Flexibility with Precision Lasting Motivation with Better Results The Advantages of Participative Leadership Theories Participative leadership theories encourage participation from employees on the decision-making process with organizational management. Sometimes the democratic style of leadership allows the employees to give suggestions on how a corporation operates and on decisions that facilitate change. Advantages of the participative theories include better employer and employee relationships, the discovery of future leaders, motivation, team spirit and employee productivity. Team Spirit Employee Productivity Motivation Employer/Employee Relationships Future Leadership Discovery 4.2: Plan the development of management and leadership skills for a given job role in your chosen organization. 4.3 Make justified evaluations of the management and leadership development methods selected in 4.2 above Plan the development of management and leadership skills and evaluation of these skills Strategic leadership is a self-explanatory term, and even when separated, still provides a meaningful definition. A definition of strategic leadership can be summed up as the ability to anticipate, prepare, and get positioned for the future. In past experience, company has been able to pinpoint specific examples of colleagues who have exemplified strategic leadership in their professions. Here are some examples of how strategic leadership is essential to a work environment. A small company had been acquired by a larger firm. With this, the current leader had been let go and a new leader was appointed to take charge. Anticipate and Prepare-Being acquired by a larger firm may bring more awareness to a company or provide better benefits, but several cons may get in the way at first. During a transition period, many employees are sometimes left without a job, or have decided to move on to other things in the wake of unsatisfied changes. It was no different when a well-liked president of the company was phased out due to financial setbacks. The firm took a lengthy process to make a move until finally appointing an internal employee to serve as the interim president. Left with a lot of the dirty work, the new leader immediately went to work and restored and initiated productivity with his employees. His biggest attribute was that he was prepared for this new role before he was even appointed as the new president. His natural work ethic had already groomed him for charismatic leadership and when the opportunity for advancement came, he wasted no time in taking charge and continuing the work. Likewise, a strategic leader will be able to pick up the pieces and restore work productivity regardless of a drastic change. Being the cheerleader and still an enforcer, Teams leaders are versatile figures held accountable for their employees work performance. Get positioned for the future- A team leaders major objective is to keep worker performance at a high and encourage improving results that would ultimately lead to a brighter outlook and future. Preparing employees now enables them to do such. Team Leaders have a weekly, monthly or even yearly report to give so their main motivation would be to constantly focus on the progress and performance of their individuals. In order to maintain and continue a future of positive results, an effective team leader will use strategic planning in his/her strategic management. Mentally, he/she will find ways to encourage employees to perform high to obtain team incentives, but will also encourage strategic planning at the individual level. Training employees to strategically plan in their prospective territories will alleviate the leader with multiple responsibilities and generate a more productive outcome in the work area. With a focus on the individual employee, a team leader will have the power t o influence his/her employees to control their progress and look towards a better outcome. One department is flourishing with work productivity, while one department is far behind. Focus on the right energies- In a business world where deadlines are demanding and profits are important, companies and their leaders will hold work productivity as a high priority. A strategic leader will observe less than optimum circumstance and move quickly to create beneficial change. Saving time by focusing only on the right energies will help a company profit. For example, an employee serves in two departments, splitting duties between each. It is evident that his/her skills are stronger in research and development rather than in the sales department. A strategic leader may see more value in changing this employees role to work in this stronger area of expertise. At the same time, a strategic leader will realize that this employee may be able to provide unique insight across both functions that others can not. Strategic leaders will observe these situations quickly and waste no time in shifting employees to areas where both the individual and organizations can benefit the most . These glimpses give you some helpful scenarios of how strategic leadership can be applied in your work environment. Should you have any future problems with work productivity, profits or even issues with your employees, address those concerns with some professional guidance and youll discover how an investment in your team will result is bottom line results. How Leadership Can Affect Change In An Organization: How Leadership Can Affect Change in an Organization The leadership of an organization provides the direction and guidance for the future and can create an environment for growth or destruction dependent on the leadership style and technique that is utilized.    It is inevitable that there will be changes in an organization, whether it is related to downsizing, economic issues or location changes; these are just a few of the current changes that are being dealt with nation-wide.    The leadership of an organization sets the tone and process for others to follow during change.    Decisions that are made and the actions of the leadership mandate what the future holds for an organizations employees. Leaders have different traits that are inherent in their management techniques, those traits can be magnified during change and can help or hinder their leadership opportunities.    During organizational change, goals are set and a leader must possess the aptitude to help employees reach those goals.    A study by R.M. Stogdill discovered that the conception of a leader was someone who acquired status by showing the ability helps a group attain its goals (Yukl, 10.2.1, 2010).    Related to that study, it was noted that relevant traits included intelligence, alertness to the needs of others, understanding of the task, initiative and persistence in dealing with problems, self-confidence, and desire to accept responsibility and occupy a position of dominance and control in leaders (Yukl, 10.2.1, 2010).    Not all traits are universal, as noted by the study by Stogdill (Yukl, 2010), but the relevant traits appear to be found in many leaders.    Self-confidence is a powerful tra it for a leader to possess, but excessive self-confidence can make a leader overly optimistic about the likely success of a risky venture, and it may result in rash decisions and denial of evidence that a plan is flawed. CONCLUSION   In conclusion, The process of accessing a persons leadership ability is a complex and often a difficult task; different leaders has different leadership style, there are many factors influence them on their leadership, such as the personal characteristics, the situation they have involved, and also the people need to manage, etc. Jorma have a very people-oriented style of leadership, he concern about his subordinate; conversely, Reymin is a more product-oriented leader, he paid big attention on the employees task more them employee themselves. There many leadership models can be adopted to analyze those two leader, but there are three most suitable models have been adopted, whatever the models have been used, it is all exactly reflect Jorma and Reymins personal leadership style.

The Emergence Of Education For Sustainable Development Education Essay

The Emergence Of Education For Sustainable Development Education Essay Education is an essential component of achieving sustainability. All over the world, societies are coming to recognize that current development trends are not sustainable, and that public awareness through education and training is a key element to moving our increasingly globalized society towards achieving sustainability. Education for sustainable development (ESD), education for sustainability (ES), and sustainability education (SE) are three terms often used synonymously and interchangeably in referencing sustainability educational programmes. ESD efforts may be named or described in a variety of ways because of language and/or cultural differences, but ESD is the terminology used most frequently at the international level and within UN documents, and is therefore the term used most throughout this document (UNESCO, 2006). All education must serve some purpose or else societies would not invest in it. ESD has the capacity to secure a more liveable world for present and future generations. The nature of ESD is oriented to giving people knowledge and skills for lifelong learning they need to help them find effective solutions to their environmental, economic, and social issues, and the effective use of technology is an essential element to increasing the efficiency of education institutions to achieve these aims (UNESCO, 2006). Diverse perspectives help societies worldwide to determine how individual issues of ESD are dealt with in individual cultures. These perspectives have significant influences on the way people live, behave, and relate to one another; and relationships to outside cultures are in a constant state of change. ESD should help us to understand ourselves as well as others better and how local sustainability issues link to the wider, global environmental view. Everyone is a stakeholder in Education for Sustainable Development; we all share in the long-term effects, both good and bad, of environmental decisions (UNESCO, 2006). Though the benefits of environment sustainability may be relatively well defined, the effective implementation of plans of action for education programmes need to take into account specific local, regional, and national contexts (Scoullos, 1998). The practise of tailoring of ESD training programmes to individual cultures is common, yet there are specific common elements that are essential to all sustainability training programmes regardless of where they are administered. Key elements of ESD programmes include the following (Tilbury and Wortman, 2004) : ESD is the primary agent of transformation towards sustainable development. The promotion of increasing the capacities of people to transform their visions for society into reality. Education fosters the values, behaviours, and lifestyles that are required for a sustainable future. Education for sustainable development is a process of learning how to make decisions that consider the long-term future of the equity, economy, and ecology of all communities. Education builds the capacity for such futures-oriented thinking. 1.4.3 Definitions Sustainable development is a challenging concept to define, especially since the field is continually evolving. The Brundtland Commission is often credited with one of the first and most commonly cited descriptions of sustainable development: Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Sustainable development was at one time generally believed to have three main elements: environment, society, and economy. However, in recent years, an additional culture pillar has emerged, complimentary to the social pillar, yet a distinct consideration. These four pillars are closely interrelated with one another and are therefore not completely separate elements. The sustainability paradigm challenges the argument that environmental and social problems are an inevitable and acceptable consequence of economic development. The perspective that advocates the concept that human development and the quality of the environment are not compatible with one another is in direct opposition to the basic the principles of sustainable development (Pace, 2009). Dr A. Ghafoor Ghaznaw, former chief of UNESCOs Environmental Education Section, defined environmental education at a UNESCO consultation meeting held in Malta in 1989 as, the educational process through which is imparted to its target groups the sensitivity, awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes, commitment for actions and ethical responsibilities for the rational use of the environment and its resources and for the protection and improvement of the environment for the present and future generations (Schembri, Ventura, Calleja, 1989) . 1.4.4 Application Regardless of how life affirming the high ideals of sustainability education objectives may be, and despite the significant support and many years of effort behind the work to achieve environmental sustainability ideals, the long-term record of accomplishment in achieving any significant progress in these efforts has been reported to be disappointingly less than expected by many. Although environmental education has frequently been proposed during numerous international conferences as a key element to major strategies intended to promote environmental objectives, there has nonetheless been a significant discrepancy between the efforts spent on education and the results that have be achieved to date (Pace, 2009). Some feel that most of what needed to be said about environmental education was said in the Tbilisi Conference in 1977, and that any new elaborations are really just a repeat of the same principles under a new guise (Pace, 2010). The characteristics of and commitment towards sustainable development were reconfirmed 10 years after the Tbilisi conference at the International Congress on Environmental Education and Training in 1987 in Moscow, and again 10 years later at the International Conference on Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability in 1997 at Thessaloniki. Although the recommendations and action plans proposed by the aforementioned conferences were still valid, the question arose as to whether the framework originally developed to support environmental education initiatives had instead become an standalone of irrelevant academic exercises (Pace, 2010). Part of the problem may lie in the fact that environmental education, much like the concept of sustainable development, can never arrive at a precise definition of the concept due to its evolving nature (Pace, 2010). The issue of how best to approach environmental education has been unclear. Although it has been well established that learning is not normally a linear experience, a significant number of educational programmes have adopted linear approaches. Linear approaches fail to acknowledge the fact that individuals learn in different ways and through different experiences (Pace, 2010). Moreover, although it is widely acknowledged that degradation of the environmental is firstly due t o the results of unsustainable lifestyles. Environmental education also recognises this fact and espouses the concept that the environment it is every citizens responsibility, and therefore in order to be effective, environmental education programmes should target individuals with learner centred learning. Environmental education programmes committed to promoting sustainable development require the transformation of principle theories into actions. Learner centred programmes, based on competency development prepare learners to take concrete steps towards discovering their own sustainable life patterns. Development of learner centred pedagogies designed to transform passive individuals into independent, critical-thinking lifelong learners committed to taking action is the next phase in the evolution of environmental education (Pace, 2010). 1.4.1 Historical Context The origins of Education for Sustainable Development lie in two distinct areas of interest in the United Nations: education and sustainable development. The Declaration of Human Rights stated in 1948 that, Everyone has the right to education. This right to an education was later reinforced in 1989 by the Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC), which declared that primary education should be compulsory and available free to all. In 1990, the Jomtien Declaration on Education for All (EFA) declared, Basic education should be provided to all children, youth, and adults. International Development Targets (IDT) related to quality education have been also developed. The Dakar Framework for Action lists as one of its six important educational goals as the Improving all aspects of the quality of education so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved, especially, in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also address educat ion. MDG 2 is designed to Achieve universal primary education. Furthermore, the UNGA declared the years 2003 to 2012 to be the United Nations Decade of Literacy (UNLD).The importance of education for all has clearly been repeatedly emphasised by the United Nations repeatedly over the course of its long history. Several milestones have marked the progress of sustainable development, including the landmark 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm, which led to the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and many other environmental protection agencies. Nations came to realize that the widespread growth of environmental degradation required international attention and collaboration rather than isolated national approaches and solutions. Within 10 years after Stockholm, the world began to realize that addressing environmental concerns separately from development needs was not an effective means to managing the welfare of the environment for human society, and by the mid 1980s the United Nations began to search for a larger strategy to address the needs of both society and the environment. This resulted in now well-known report on sustainable development from the Brundtland Commission in 1987, entitled Our Common Future. This report was endorsed a t all levels of government as an overarching framework for future development policy. During this time, the United Nations General Assembly concurrently explored a parallel concept of utilising education to support sustainable development (UNESCO, 2005). The concepts of sustainable development continued to progress with committees discussing and negotiating the terms of the 40 chapters that eventually came to know as the Agenda 21, where it was presented to the public in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The link between education and sustainability was first conceptualised in Chapter 36 of Agenda 21. Entitled Promoting Education, Public Awareness, and Training, the chapter was an enabling and implementation strategy for Education for Sustainable Development and stressed the importance of integrating education into every one of the other 40 chapters that also comprised of the Agenda 21, which was reaffirmed in each of the subsequent conventions that arose from the initial Earth Summit as (UNESCO, 2005). All nine of the major United Nations Conferences that convened in the 1990s to further address and refine sustainability issues also correspondingly identified education as a crucial elemen t to implementation (UNESCO, 2005). The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), convened in 2002, helped to deepen international commitments towards sustainable development at all levels, and it was at this the Decade of Education for Sustainable development (DESD) was proposed, thereby reaffirming education as an important and central principle to effective approaches for sustainable development strategies. That same year the Rio+20 Conference 2012 was held in Rio de Janeiro. Otherwise known as the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, and Earth Summit 2012, a draft resolution entitled The Future We Want was presented, which reaffirmed prior commitments to education by strengthening international cooperation to achieve universal access to primary education, which is considered an essential condition for achieving sustainable development, as well for the achieving internationally agreed upon development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. This draft resolution also re solved to improve the capacity of education systems to prepare students to pursue sustainable development careers, which included enhanced teacher training, curricula developed around sound sustainability principles, and more effective use of information and communication technologies to enhance learning outcomes. The document further resolved to promote Education for Sustainable Development and to integrate it more actively into education beyond the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development plans, and strongly encouraged educational institutions to teach sustainable development as an integrated component across disciplines. The importance of environmental concerns first gained international recognition with the Stockholm Declaration in 1972. It consisted of 7 proclamations and 26 principles to inspire people of the world to preserve and enhance the worlds and enhancement of the human environment. The International Workshop on Environmental Education was held shortly after Stockholm Convention at Belgrade, Serbia in 1975. The resulting Belgrade charter was the outcome of the event and built upon the Stockholm Declaration, with additional goals, objectives, and guiding principles for environmental education programmes. An important aspect to this work was the inclusion of the public as part of the defined target audience for environmental education. The worlds first intergovernmental conference on environmental education was organized by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in cooperation with the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1977, and was convened in Tbilisi, Georgia (USSR).The Tbilisi Declaration was a result of this conference, with the declaration updating and clarifying the Stockholm Declaration and the Belgrade Charter. The Tbilisi Declaration recommended that environmental education develops the necessary skills for societies to deal with environmental challenges, and promotes the attitudes and commitments required to make the most informed decisions and responsible actions towards the environment. The declaration emphasised the important roles of education to preserving the planets environment and balanced development of communities, and declared that, by its very nature, environmental education can make a powerful contribution to the renovation of the educational process. The document also recommended that environmental education should be integrated into the entire system of formal education at all levels to provide the necessary knowledge, understanding, values, and skills needed for participation in devising solutions to environmental questions. Ten years after the Tbilisi Conference, a follow-up conference was convened in Moscow, otherwise known as the Moscow Conference, to determine a specific international plan of action for environmental education and training. The Moscow Conference report was based upon input from international studies and surveys, and outlined an international strategy of action to develop environmental education and training programmes for the 1990s. The plan defined requirements for education and training programmes, and reaffirmed the Tbilisi Conferences declaration that environmental education should be made an integral part of the entire educational process and aimed at every category of the population in member states. The Rio+5 or Earth Summit+5 Conference was convened in 1997 to appraise the progress the Agenda 21 plans over the five years that had passed since its initial approval. It was determined by the assembly that progress was thus far uneven, and identified several key negative trends affecting the environment, which included continuing globalisation, widening of gaps in economic incomes, and a continuing deterioration of the global environment. This conference brought to light a new international consensus with a new vision of education that involved more public awareness and training, and conceptualised education as an essential element of sustainable development, with the support of advances in other related areas such as science, technology, and policy (UNESCO, 1997b). Twenty years after the Tbilisi Declaration and five years after the Rio Conference, a third environmental education conference was also held in 1997 at Thessaloniki, Greece. The purpose of this conference was to reiterate the important role of education and public awareness to achieving the aims of sustainability. The declaration of Thessaloniki reaffirmed commitments, recommendations, and action plans from previous conferences, yet at the same time also recognized that insufficient progress had been made in the five years since the Rio conference had concluded. Despite this disappointment however, there was a recommitment to involving national governments, civil society, the United Nations, and other international organisations to working towards the intentions of sustainability, and established a global agenda for upcoming Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) as declared by the UN. In the conference, they reaffirmed that sufficient education and public awareness should be recognised as one of the main pillars of sustainability, together with legislation, technology, and the economy. It was also recommended that special emphasis should be given to strengthen teacher training programmes and the identification and sharing of innovative practices. Support was also recommended for research in interdisciplinary teaching methodologies and assessments of the impact of relevant educational programmes (UNESCO, 1997a). 1.4.2 The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) Following the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, and based upon recommendations from chapter 36 of the Agenda 21 document, the United Nations declared 2005 to 2014 the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) in 2002. During the decade declared by the UN, many goals have been set forth in conjunction with strategies towards outcomes that are intended affect millions of people from communities all over the world for many years to come through inspiring all individuals at all levels of society to contribute to helping to make sustainable development a realistic reality. Planned outcomes during the Decade include raising public awareness, updating educational systems, and the integration of ESD into all elements of developmental planning (The United Nations, 2010). The DESD is also linked to other international educational priorities as well. The United Nations has launched four global initiatives since 2000, all of which focus on education. The four initiatives are the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Education for All (EFA), the United Nations Literacy Decade, and the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. UNESCO is the coordinating agency for three of the four goals. While the initiatives are unique in certain respects, what they all have in common is a commitment to education and an emphasis on the importance of the participatory role of each individual in education and sustainable development (UNESCO, 2009). The Fourth International Conference on Environmental Education, also referred to as the Tbilisi+30, was held at the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) in Ahmedabad, India in 2007. During the conference, several work group sessions were convened, along with special sessions for solely for government agencies. The conference was intended to promote a vision that education that prevents and resolves conflicts, and to provide assistance in building partnerships and facilitating shared experiences and a collective knowledgebase required to refine a vision of sustainability that expands its practice globally, and reaffirm that education is a crucial element to bringing about the global transitions required to make sustainability a realistic reality (UNESCO, UNEP Govt. of India, 2007) . Environmental education supports education for sustainable development, and encourages a shift from viewing education as a delivery mechanism, to a lifelong, holistic, and all-inclusive process (UNESCO, UNEP Govt. of India, 2007) . The following is a list of Working Group Session Reports Recommendations and Workshop Presentations available from the Tbilisi+30 Conference: Reorienting Formal Education towards ESD (Strategies, Pedagogy, and Assessment). Teacher Education: A crucial contribution to the UNDESD. Supporting Sustainable Development through Open and Distance Learning, including Technology Mediated Open and Distance Education (TechMODE). Education for Innovation and Technology. Integrating Values of Sustainability into education. Monitoring and Evaluating Progress during the UN DESD. Education for Sustainable Consumption through the DESD. The World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development was held in Bonn, Germany, in 2009. The conference was organised by UNESCO, the German Ministry of Education and Research, and the German Commission for UNESCO. The World Conference on ESD marked the beginning of the second half of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development. The purpose of the conference was to discuss and exchange best practices on Education for Sustainable Development from all world regions. The conference had four objectives: To highlight the relevance of ESD to all of education. To promote international exchange on ESD, especially between the North and the South. To carry out a stocktaking of the implementation of the UN Decade. To develop strategies for the way ahead. Strategies were developed during the conference to highlight key focus areas in order to put knowledge into action and promote further progress of ESD in the following five years remaining of the Decade. Post-conference strategies included: Re-orienting education and training to address sustainability concerns. Building and sharing knowledge, and generating new knowledge through research. Advocating for ESD through increasing awareness and understanding of sustainability, and reinforcing/enhancing synergies between different education and development initiatives. Extending and strengthening ESD partnerships. As the global coordinator of the DESD, UNESCOs role is to facilitate new partnerships and encourage exchange between Member States on ESD, share best practices, encourage monitoring and evaluation efforts, encourage development of ESD research agendas, and provide strategic guidance. Many activities have been undertaken by a broad range of stakeholders since the start of the DESD, including setting up National Committees, establishing networks, developing and disseminating education materials, identifying and highlighting good practices, and arranging meetings to encourage international exchange (UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, 2009). Although much work remains to be done before ESD completely occupies a central place in educational and learning processes in order to realise its full potential to improve the quality of education as a whole, there has been notable progress since the beginning of the Decade in 2005. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was a key outcome from the Rio Earth Summit held in 1992. A review halfway through the DESD indicated that the need for ESD had become well established in national policy frameworks and that national ESD coordinating agencies had been created almost 100 countries across all UN regions (UNESCO DESD Monitoring Evaluation, 2012) . Networks and organisations both within and outside the UN system have been established globally to encourage and support increasing ESD in schools, universities, and communities, and in the process, ESD has gained international recognition as an education relevant to addressing todays Sustainable Development challenges, (UNESCO DESD Monitoring Evaluation, 2012) . More recent reports indicated that there is been an increased recognition that environmental challenges cannot be solved exclusively through technological advances and new policy frameworks, in order to achieve sustainable success efforts must be accompanied by changes in mind-sets, values, and lifestyles of societies (UNESCO DESD Monitoring Evaluation, 2012) . ESD is being increasingly viewed as a means to renew teaching and learning in ways that allow schools and communities to more effectively address the challenges sustainable development and the environment. In some parts of the world, ESD has been a part of a co-evolution of teaching methods and has arguably become a catalyst for educational change and innovation (UNESCO DESD Monitoring Evaluation, 2012) . There has been a shift from viewing ESD as something to add-on to education to ESD as a mechanism for rethinking education and learning (UNESCO DESD Monitoring Evaluation, 2012). Sustainability challenges require more integrative and exploratory forms of learning. As a result, the boundaries between schools, universities, and communities are increasingly blurring in many areas of the world now due to a number of recent trends, including increased focuses on lifelong learning; globalization; and ICT facilitated social networking education. These boundary-crossing phenomena are resulting in a reconfiguration of formal, informal, and non-formal learning processes, and changing the roles and relationships stakeholders Earlier in the Decade the emphasis was on finding a niche among education institutions, whereas today ESD is viewed more as a potential umbrella for all educations (including global citizenship education) concerned with the well-being of the planet and its inhabitants (UNE SCO DESD Monitoring Evaluation, 2012). Despite all the positive progress being made however, there are new challenges to resolve. For instance, the E in ESD is conceptualized in different ways depending on the availability of individual societies for participation, self-determination, and autonomous thinking (UNESCO DESD Monitoring Evaluation, 2012). Local situations may vary in these respects globally, which often leads to different interpretations and implementations of ESD. Within more restrictive environments, more transmission-oriented pedagogies are more likely, with a strong emphasis forms of instruction centred around knowledge transfer, and in more open environments, ESD is more typically characterized by higher levels of participation, self-determination, autonomous thinking, and knowledge co-creation. The latter versions of ESD require alternative forms of teaching and learning, and higher levels of stakeholder interaction. 1.5 Applying TEL Concepts in ESD Contexts 1.5.1 Uptake Extent of Use The eMerge One-to-One Laptop Learning Project was initiated by the Government of Albertas Ministry of Education to explore the effectiveness of wireless computing for learning and teaching. The project was anticipated to affect 2,502 students, 173 teachers, and 47 administrators within 50 schools in the 20 Alberta jurisdictions. Data collected during the course of the research period supported the following findings (Government of Alberta, 2010): By the end of Year Three there was a significant shift in participating classrooms toward 21st Century Learning skills, with students in the project significantly increasing their readiness to thrive in a complex, global, high-tech society. The educators involved in the progress have made steady progress over the course of three year in their proficiency with technology and 21st Century Learning, and in the process, increased the frequency at which technology was used to keep students engaged in deep, complex, authentic, and relevant learning activities. The eMerge project included a range of professional development models. One of the most highly valued by teachers was the community of practice that linked teachers to one another. There were also key shifts with students in their independence in learning and increased collaboration with other students. Teachers and administrators developed a deeper understanding of and commitment to the vision for 21st Century learning. Over the course of the first three years of the eMerge, the perception of teachers on the relevance of the 21st Century Skills shifted from valuing productivity to placing more value on the use of skills in critical thinking, creativity, and ethical use. European Schoolnet is a not-for-profit organisation comprised of 30 Ministries of Education in Europe. The organisation is dedicated to supporting collaboration and networking among schools in Europe using new technologies, and contributing to the development of technology-enhanced learning in schools. In 15 years since its founding, European Schoolnet has become one of the key organisations involved in transforming teaching and learning at schools in Europe using the integration of ICT into learning and teaching (European Schoolnet, 2011). European Schoolnet provides services through its partnerships with ministries of Education and the European Commission. The services offered to schools provide opportunities for teachers to become actively involved in exploring how ICT can enhance the teaching and learning experience. Recent initiatives have focused on raising awareness among teachers of the benefits of school collaboration activities for both the pupils learning and the teachers own professional development (European Schoolnet, 2011). European Schoolnet is currently facilitating several project initiatives. The Scientix project is a European Schoolnet initiative that provides a web-based information platform for science education in Europe to disseminate knowledge and share best practices in science education. The Scientix web portal is available in six European languages and targets anyone involved in science and maths education, from policy-makers to science education teachers. The Spice project, funded by the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning programme, collects, analyses, shares innovative pedagogical practices focused on inquiry-based learning and improving student interest in the sciences (European Schoolnet, 2011). eTwinning is an online community for schools in Europe that provides a host of online educational tools for teachers from participating countries to locate potential school partnerships, arrange virtual meetings, exchange best practice ideas, and opportunities learn together with on line-based projects. An eTwinning project allows at least two schools from at least two different European countries create a project and use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to carry out their work (eTwinning, 2011). The We teach together eTwinning project is a partnership between schools in the Czech Republic and Portugal that incorporated the integration of the school subjects of Chemistry, Biology, and Environmental Education. This project brought teachers and classrooms together to teach topic of photosynthesis. The primary objective of the project was to facilitate a teaching practice in an unusual way that would enhance the motivation of students to learn otherwise less popular

Rudolph Christian Karl Diesel :: essays research papers

Rudolph Christian Karl Diesel Rudolph Diesel was born on March 18, 1858 in Paris. On September 4, 1870 Rudolph's family moved to England. In late November they decided it would be better for Rudolph to continue his schooling in Germany so he moved there on his own and stayed with a young professor. The problems Rudolph was trying to solve were the noise, size and unreliability of the steam engine. he wanted to create something that superheated ammonia gas could take the place of steam in a steam engine. He wanted to enable much higher compression pressures to be used than was able with conventional steam engines. In this way he could make greater use of heat energy. Rudolph was 32 when he finally accomplished his goal of creating the first ever Diesel Engine. To create the Diesel engine which made Rudolph famous he had to take the original steam engine and give it exhaust valves water cooling for the cylinder head and barrel and a compressed air fuel-injection system to ensure that the liquid fuel was forced into the combustion space with sufficient pressure to overcome the air in the cylinder. This basic idea of how to go about creating the engine was modified and improved many times before finally prefected in 1896. To do this Rudolph had to have a great understanding of Thermodynamics. He had to know basic principles of engines and how they work. Rudolph got help from many people. Some of the people that helped him are Machine-fabric Augsburg, Gasmotoren-Fabric Deutz and Mannesmann-Werke. It took them six years to finish the Diesel Engine. It was important because it gave a new and easier way of using engines. It gave a way for large vehicles to transport goods safely.

Essay --

T.Y.W. 1618-1648 The Thirty Years War was a series of conflicts, not-knowingly involving most European countries from 1618 to 1648. The war, which was fought mainly in Germany, was started when Bohemian Protestants furiously attacked the Holy Roman Emperor in terms to impose a restriction on their religious and civil liberties. By understanding the Thirty Years War, you will notice the notable religious, political and social changes. The changes paved the religious and political maps of Europe. Not only did this war affect the religious and political demographic, it caused populations to perish and lose large amounts of their goods. What was known as a religious battle, turned out to be a political feud in competition of which state has the greater power affecting men, women, soldiers and civilians. â€Å"[The bohemians] had no idea that their violent deed would set off a chain reaction of armed conflict that would last thirty years and later be called Europe’s â€Å"first world war† of the modern era.† When the war ended, the lands were defiled and over 5 million people were killed. During the Thirty Years War, men and women had to experience trials and tribulations. Solders and officials, putting fear into the eyes of the countrymen, were testing all their patience, tolerance, and rights. The soldiers thought they could do anything they wanted because they abuse their powers. Citizens were often tortured by water boarding, daggers and hung if they did not satisfy the needs and wants of the officials. Martin Botzinger briefly describes his experience saying, â€Å"they beat me to the ground with daggers†¦ both my feet were bound together, and the other took the rope round my left arm, and they shoved me in water.† Scenes like this caused so ... ... then five more, one after another†¦ they allowed themselves to eat those bodies†¦ They said, ‘it was the great unbearable famine that did it.’† The struggle to find food was real. It was a heavy burden for people to bear. The need to stay a live became a daily struggle many civilian and soldiers. The Thirty Years War, known as a religious war started off as a small debacle between the bohemians and the Roman Catholics. Not knowing this was a beginning to something big. The war that lasted thirty years, allowed for torment and diminishing events to happen. Events that effected men, women and soldiers. While some suffered more than others, there was not much left to do but to deal with what you had. The war defiled the lands of Europe leaving individuals helpless without much to eat or look forward to. All in all, the Thirty years War paved the new European landscape

“Write About the Ways Auden Tells the Story in the Poetic Piece ‘Miss Gee’”

â€Å"Write about the ways Auden tells the story in the poetic piece ‘Miss Gee’? † Through the ballad of ‘Miss Gee’ Auden tells the story of the character Miss Edith Gee this is achieved in a variety of ways. The poetic piece is a ballad intended to be read to the tune of ‘St James’ Infirmary’. Auden has created a regular pattern of quatrains as well as a regular rhythm which progresses the general flow of the poem and creates the atmosphere of a story for the reader.The initial exposition is extremely sympathetic towards Miss Gee. â€Å"Now let me tell you a little story about Miss Edith Gee† is a cruel way to open the narrative as Auden instantly belittles her character and makes her seem insignificant, whereas she is actually the main, if not only character we meet in detail. This technique is effectives the reader then feels that she is insignificant, and although it is she who lends her name to the poem, is an outcast a nd a quiet individual.She is continually referred to as small, further lowering the impressions of the character to the reader. Auden establishes the setting of the poem in the introductory stanza, as would be done in a story â€Å"She lived in Clevedon Terrace/ At Number 83†. This is an ordinary address and place for the poem to be set it, this in turn establishes the normality and average attributes of Miss Gee showing her character as one of no complexity.The further repetition of ‘Clevedon Terrace’ in the poem is a constant reminder from Auden to the reader to always bring them back to the fact that the character Miss Gee is intended to be average and ordinary just like any other individual. Miss Gee’s appearance is made apparent by Auden in the third stanza â€Å"She’d a velvet hat with trimmings,/And a dark grey serge costume;† â€Å"purple†¦ green† this description of Miss Gee’s clothing is very ironic as lots of col ours are present but on a colourless character.Auden may have intended this imagery to be seen as symbolism of Miss Gee’s persona how she tries to mask her simplicity in colours but is always unable to mask her unfeminine personality and the fact that she is insecure in her own skin. The is no connection between Auden and herself and the poem has a very impersonal tone to it Auden is very mocking of Miss Gee when describing her clothing as a â€Å"costume† which creates the impression that she almost trying to dress up as somebody else and is seen to some as somewhat of a joke. Auden uses a regular pattern of rhyme throughout the poetic piece

My Toy Essay

1. What are the special days celebrated in your country? There are many special days celebrated in my country. Such as Tet holiday, beginning from January the first on the Lunar Calendar National holiday, Septemper the second Independence day, April 30th 2. Which is your favourite and why? I like Tet holiday the most because I can meet my cosins, relatives, friends who live far away. People get together to eat, drink, and entertain themselves . I also receive â€Å"lucky money† in red envelopes. Besides, I take part in many traditional customs with my family such as cooking sticky rice cake, playing tug of war, going to pagoda to wish good things for my family. And I can hang out with my friends and don’t worry about anything. 3. What do you think is the most important festival in your country? Tet holiday is the most important festival for Vietnamese people. It’s the start of a new year and the Vietnamese feel that having a good start is essential to having a good year.These are funny and happy days that people prepare and welcome the new year together. In addition, it is a wonderful occasion for Vietnamese families to reunite and remember their ancestors. 4. In what way do people celebrate the festival? Most people start to clean and decorate their houses from top to bottom a week or two before the Lunar New Year . It is a common belief that cleaning the house will get rid of bad fortunes associated with the old year. Some people paint their houses to start a new year with lucky things and decorate with festive items . Besides, people are also busy shopping to buy new clothes for themselves, and their children a month prior to the New Year. 5. Do people prepare any special food for the occasions? Food plays a major role in the Tet holiday. Some typical Tet’s foods are sweets, coconut jam, fruit candies, melon seeds, stew pork with eggs, and especially sticky rice cake. Tet meals are usually bigger and more delicious than our daily ones. 6. Which do people prefer to spend with family or with friends? Usually people prefer to spend time with their family because Tet holiday is the time for family and indeed the only time of the year when the whole family gather together 7. How did people celebrate the festival in the  past? In the past, one or two days before Tet, every family prepares and cooks Banh Chung around a warm fire. It is also the time for parents to tell their children folklore stories. Nowadays, families which live in villages still maitain making Banh Chung before New Years but the people in the city do not. They don’t have time and prefer to buy it. Besides, many families also light firecrackers and fireworks to celebrate, but now this custom has changed because it is illegal in our country. 8. How has the way been changed and why? Nowadays , firecrackers are illegal in our country. So this tradition has changed. Some people even prefer to take a holiday instead of going back to their parents’s home to spend Tet holiday. And, some rich of families, aren’t excited to buy clothes for the New Year because they buy their all year around. And, some traditional food such as sticky rice cakes are often bought as a department store in the supermaket, maket instead of being cook at home because they are quite busy with their work, even they have no time to clean and decorate their house.