Saturday, May 16, 2020

Diversity Within The Workplace What Is Diversity

Diversity in the workplace What is diversity? Diversity in the workplace means having employees from a wide range of backgrounds. This can include having employees of different ages, gender, ethnicity, physical ability, sexual orientation, religious belief, work experience, educational background, and so on. Advantages of diversity If you have a diverse workplace in your business, you can benefit from the different talents, experiences and perspectives of your employees. Find out more about the advantages of employing: mature aged workers young people people with disability women in the workplace apprentices and trainees people from overseas Indigenous Australians people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Don t discriminate! It’s unlawful to disadvantage employees and job seekers in any way because of their: race colour gender sexual preference age physical or mental disability marital status family or carer’s responsibilities pregnancy religion political opinion national extraction social origin. Definition of Workforce Diversity Similarities and differences among employees in terms of age, cultural background, physical abilities and disabilities, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. Issues and Challenges You may know someone who has experienced unfair treatment based on a personal characteristic. Discrimination occurs when someone is denied opportunities on the basis of a personal characteristic that has no bearing on job performance.Show MoreRelatedDiversity Within The Workplace : What Does It Entail?1803 Words   |  8 PagesDiversity in The Workplace What is diversity and what does it entail? Luther College defines diversity as â€Å"complex differences and similarities in perspectives, identities, and points of view among members of an institution as well as among individuals who make up the wider community.† Diversity has been a hot topic in today’s news and social networking arenas with the ever-changing race relations that are prevalent in our country and around the world. The changes in perception towards minoritiesRead MoreWhat Do You Define Diversity Within A Workplace?791 Words   |  4 Pages How do you define diversity in a workplace? Do you fall victim to a non diversified workplace where everyone seems out of place? Many people have different views on this the topic of diversity, but do not necessarily understand it fully in a workplace. If your job has numerous age groups, races, religious beliefs, and equal amount of gender, then your job is practicing diversification. A lot of companies are making i t more known that they enforce diversity in their workplaces. Three top companiesRead MoreThe Australian Workplace Is A Evolving Environment1483 Words   |  6 Pages The Australian workplace is a constantly evolving environment. When we look at the structure of the Australian workplace environment, we can infer that Australia’s multicultural society has broken down the barriers of uniformity. This both contextual and individual concept is refereed to as diversity. Contrary to popular belief, diversity does not jus relate to gender, race cultural identity. Diversity is categorized into four main categories: organisational, internal, external and personalityRead MoreEssay Workplace Diversity1577 Words   |  7 PagesDiversity is the uniqueness which every employee brings to the workplace in an organization or establishment. Examples of differences include nationality, belief, disabilities, physical appearance, race, gender, age, educational background, sexual orientation, and work experience, social and family status. At the workplace, valuing diversity means creating a work environment that respects and includes individual variation by maximizing the potential of all employees or in which every employee feelsRead MoreDiversity Within A Diverse Workplace1320 Words   |  6 PagesDiversity is seen as the difference among people. These factors include gender, race, ethnicity, age,sexual orientation,religion,capabilities/disabilities. A Diverse workplace,in the last 30 years, become an important issue to emerge, and it’s effects this can have on a organisation. More and more research has gone into a diverse workplace and effects it can have on an organisation competitive advantage. Although having diverse workplace, brings about opportunities and threats, diversity is complexRead MoreWe Need Diversity in the Workplace Essay1496 Words   |  6 PagesTodays workplace is more diverse than it has ever been in history. While the workforce has made strides in the direction of equality, it is still far from attaining total equality in the workplace. A company must value diversity. The main objectives of valuing d iversity include awareness, education, and positive recognition of the differences among people in the workforce. Organizations are increasingly emphasizing group work or teamwork as a source of competitive advantage in a diverse workforceRead MoreThe Value Of Diversity Within The Workplace1163 Words   |  5 PagesThe Value of Diversity in the Workplace Globalization sets the perfect environment to develop diversity in the workplace. This new society, in which we are currently living, has created a new workforce that is based on its diversity that can greatly help with any business development and growth. In business, diversity brings opportunities to grow, expand and reach out to other markets by utilizing the values, ideas and the diverse skills that people from many different backgrounds have to offer.Read MoreManaging Diversity Within The Workplace1605 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract- Managing Diversity in the workplace requires a lot of focus, training, and time. This paper gives an insight into the world of management and how diversity plays a big part. It explores the key benefits to putting emphasis on diversity and also how not putting emphasis on diversity could hurt your business. This paper also gives examples on how to go about managing diversity in the workplace. With proper focus on managing diversity, your organizatio n can be at a big advantage. I. INTRODUCTIONRead MoreEthical Issues in Management Essay1199 Words   |  5 PagesEthical Issues in Management Charles Hall Axia Student Diversity in the workplace refers to the stark contrast of individuals within the same work environment. Many moral and ethical issues are faced by managers every day concerning diversity. Social Issues and ethically responsible management practices relate to workplace diversity in simple but important ways. Ethically it is irresponsible for managers to manage diversity in the workplace by acting insensitively towards employees. There are manyRead MoreManaging Workforce Diversity: Principles of Management643 Words   |  3 PagesManaging workforce diversity: Principles of management Workforce diversity can be an organizations greatest strength provided it is managed correctly. Diversity can generate organizational value. Workers of diverse backgrounds can provide input to management about how to cope with the challenges of the global marketplace. A Japanese-American employee can provide advice about to deal with a client from the Far East; a female employee can offer her input about how to market a new product to spark

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Crt/205 Week 2 - 1353 Words

CRT/205: Mapping Arguments Children in the Backseat Are the Worst Distraction for Driver In this the issue considered is the way of driving with the children in the backseat. Therefore this is a difficult one as the roads will have more traffic and driving is not an easier one. If it is done with children then it will be more difficult as they will be playing inside car and will be a hard task to control them. Then they have various distractions like that of visual distractions, manual distractions and cognitive distractions. These will be very hard for drivers as they need to be very careful in it while driving with a child. Thus the stated premise is the way of driving without distractions and unstated premise is dealing with†¦show more content†¦At the moment, President Obama, Republican and Democratic members of Congress, the American Medical Association and America’s Health Insurance plans all agree that a change is needed to the current system. There is little debate that the health care is necessary but a lot of debate on how the change should be done. Obama’s Health Care Reform Plan The majority of Americans receive health care through private insurers which is mostly provided through their employers. For the most part, employees are required to contribute part of insurance cost through payroll deductions. There is no government health insurance company that covers all citizens. The government does offer few programs such as Medicare and Medicaid but the eligibility is restricted and limited. President Obama wants to reform the health care system so that every American in United States has health insurance coverage. The plan proposes to offer affordable, comprehensive and portable coverage. It pledges to control the rising health care cost and improving the quality of care. The key goals of the reform plan are: †¢ Requiring employers to provide health insurance to their employees †¢ Mandating health insurance to all children †¢ Workers will be allowed to keep their employer-provided health insurance even if they lose their job or if they’re in between jobs †¢ Prohibit insurance companies from rejecting people because of pre-existing health conditions †¢Show MoreRelatedApa Writing Style and Mechanics7913 Words   |  32 Pagescourse, and the instructor s recommendations will prevail over this sample paper in the event that differences between the two occur. Revised: April 2008 Center for Writing Excellence  © 2008 Apollo Group, Inc. All rights reserved APA Writing Style 2 Abstract According to section 1.07 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001), â€Å"An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article; it allows readers to survey the contents of an article quicklyRead MoreMusculoskeletal Disorder Among University Students27133 Words   |  109 Pagesuse of questionnaires as a data collection instrument. The findings show that students are exposure to risk factors similar to those of computer based office workers. It was found that 92.40% of the respondents use the computer beyond 20 hours in a week, which is known to be most pronounced with increase risk of musculoskeletal disorders. 86.40% reported using the computer daily. The study also showed a high level of discomfort experienced by students at the neck, back, shoulders and eyes. This couldRead MoreImpooving Employee Performance72019 Words   |  289 Pagespermission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Printing number 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgments A Conceptual Framework for the Appraisal/Coaching Process Pretest 1. Introduction and Overview How to Get Maximum Performance from Employees The Performance Review Program 2. The Basis for Appraisal Signiï ¬ cant Job Segments Standards of Performance 3. The Appraisal and the Interview The Appraisal Process PreparingRead More_x000C_Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis355457 Words   |  1422 Pagesthomsonrights@thomson.com. Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 10 09 08 07 ExamView  ® and ExamView Pro  ® are registered trademarks of FSCreations, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation used herein under license. Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Used herein under license. Library of Congress Control Number: 2006933904 Student Edition: ISBN-13: 978-0-495-11873-2 ISBN-10: 0-495-11873-7 ââ€"   To my nephews, JesseRead MoreNokias Human Resources System144007 Words   |  577 PagesIndicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ≠¤ No n Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non ­accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitionsRead MoreCissp Study Guide67657 Words   |  271 Pagespolicies area high-level plans that describe the goals of the procedures. Policies are not guidelines or standards, nor are they procedures or controls. Policies describe Pass Any Exam. Any Time. - Ac tua lTe sts QUESTION NO: 2 .co m 2 ISC CISSP: Practice Exam security in general terms, not specifics. They provide the blueprints for an overall security program just as a specification defines your next product - Roberta Bragg CISSP Certification Training Guide (que) pg

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Us Involvement In Nicaragua Essay Example For Students

Us Involvement In Nicaragua Essay Some might say that Nicaragua has been merely a pawn in the US battle against Soviet-Cuban Communist control in Latin America. Relationships between the US and Nicaragua go back to the Gold Rush and Cornelius Vanderbilts attempts to expedite the travel between the two coasts of the US. Vanderbilt bought the rights to shuttle fortune-seekers across Nicaragua to avoid their having to cross the width of the United States or travel around Cape Horn. Eventually, controversy among the Nicaraguan people led to a civil war in 1853. The US was further drawn into the conflict when the left-wing army hired an American, William Walker, to fight for them. Walker and his mercenaries quickly conquered Grenada, the stronghold of the Conservative parties and found themselves in charge of the army. Walker, however, had his eyes on the presidency, which he eventually took. Walker was not the end of US intervention in Nicaragua. The government had aligning aspirations with Cornelius Vanderbilt and decided to build their canal through Nicaragua, which was less disease ravaged than the other contender, Panama. However, due to previous treaty agreements, the US would have to share control of any canal built through Nicaragua with Great Britain, and so the plan was abandoned. Instead, the US built an exclusively controlled canal through Panama. From 1893 1909, a general by the name of Zelaya had exclusive control of the Nicaraguan government. However, in 1909, with US support, this government was overthrown and a pro-US government was established. Throughout the early 1900s, US Marines helped quell minor rebellions throughout Nicaragua and occupy much of the country. Finally, in 1933, the marines leave under the premise of peace with the guerilla leader Gen. Sandino. A man named Anastasio Somoza is put in charge of the National Guard, and therefore controls the country with an iron fist. Until 1979, the Somoza family serves as the totalitarian government in Nicaragua, fixing the elections so power remains in the family. Throughout this 40 year period, several minor insurrections are staged by the newly founded Sandinista National Liberation Front. These are easily put down by the military regime, until 1979. Throughout this period of relative peace in Nicaragua, many dominos are being set up around them throughout Central America. In 1959, Castro controls Cuba and the US begins to worry about the communist influence in Latin America. In 1972, corruption really starts to eat away at the Somoza regime and it is clear a power struggle is looming. Without US intervention, the Sandinistas launch their major offensive in 1979 and force Somoza into exile. Shortly thereafter, Ronald Reagan is elected in the US and he puts fighting communism a the top of his priority list. Reagan uses this motive to launch covert anti-Sandinista operations in Nicaragua as well as plant seeds of revolution in other communist countries throughout Latin America. In 1983, the US officially invaded Grenada and the US began restoring a government they deemed fit to rule the country. Since that time, the US has been deeply involved in the Nicaraguan political processes to ensure a capitalistic society is maintained. The American government claims its assistance is focused on strengthening democratic institutions, stimulating sustainable economic growth, and supporting the health and basic education sectors. Other goals are stated as improving human rights conditions, the development of a free market economy and ensuring civilian control over defense and security as well as reforming the judicial system. In the last few years, some semblance of order has been restored to the democratic process. In the 1996 election, a former Sandinista general ran and appeared to lead an aboveground campaign promising a peaceful future. .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d , .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d .postImageUrl , .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d , .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d:hover , .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d:visited , .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d:active { border:0!important; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d:active , .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2c0895fd3e689b6526178f92a9440a8d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) was a genious, spiritu EssayBibliography1. Serrill, Michael S.. Improbable Comeback. TIME International Magazine 14 Oct. 1996. 06 Sep. 2000. . 2. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Background Notes: Nicaragua. . Sept. 2000. US State Dept.. 25 Sept. 2000. . 3. Jenkins, Tony. Nicaragua and the United States; Years of Conflict. New York: Watts, 1989. 4. Burns, E Bradford. At War in Nicaragua; the Reagan Doctrine and the Politics of Nostalgia. New York, Harper Row, 1987. Governmental Issues

Saturday, April 18, 2020

The New World free essay sample

The idea of a glorious earthly paradise far from the known world had existed in the European imagination long before 1492. That idea of a distant paradise on earth shaped the way Europeans came to think of America after Columbus and his successors reported their discoveries. For example, the following mythic lands may have served as inspirations for the alluring idea of America as a place of joy, ease, riches, and regeneration: a. the Garden of the Hesperides of Greek myth b. the Elysian Fields described by the poet Homer c. the Islands of the Blessed, described by Hesiod, Horace, and Pindar d. Atlantis, described by Plato in the Timaeus and the Critias e. the Garden of Eden f. the Fortunate Isles, described in the Voyage of St. Brendan (ninth century) g. the enchanted gardens of Renaissance literature Columbus’s discovery of America has been described as â€Å"perhaps the most important event recorded in secular history. We will write a custom essay sample on The New World or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † On the other hand, it has been pointed out that had Columbus not discovered America, it would soon have been discovered by some other explorer. Edmundo O’Gorman, in The Invention of America (1961), asserted that America was not discovered but was invented by Europeans in the 16th and following centuries. The contrary idea of America as a place of degenerated plants, animals, and humans was also held by Europeans long before it was set forth by the French naturalist Buffon (1707–1788) in the early volumes of his Natural History (1749–1804). Thomas Jefferson made effective reply in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1785), but remnants of the idea continued to persist in the European popular mind. Modern readers are often surprised to learn of Columbus’s never-ending insistence, even in the face of contrary evidence, that he had reached the coast of Asia, not a new continent. That mistaken certainty was in large part caused by his faith in faulty calculations showing the earth’s circumference to be about 18,000 rather than 25,000 miles. The ancient geographer Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth with nearly perfect accuracy in the third century BCE. But Columbus, as did the best navigators of his time, relied on charts based on measurements made by the second-century-CE astronomer Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus). The calculation of the earth’s circumference presented in Ptolemy’s Guide to Geography (published, in Latin, in 1409) was off by more than 25 percent. Had the calculation been accurate, Columbus would have been correct in assuming that after sailing west for 33 days, he had indeed reached the Orient. Columbus’s writing style is spare and unornamented. In contrast, the letters (the first published in 1504) of Amerigo Vespucci, reporting his voyages to the New World from 1497 to 1504 (he claimed four,historians credit him with two), were filled with vivid and titillating details describing the new land and its inhabitants. As a result, Vespucci’s reports received greater attention throughout Europe than the reports (as distinct from the discovery itself) of Columbus. Because of Vespucci’s renown and because of his real accomplishments, the German geographer Martin Waldseemuller, in making his influential map of the new continent (1507), applied the name â€Å"America† to South America. Eventually, through popular usage, â€Å"America† came to be used for the North America as well. Vespucci’s voyage of 1501–1502 (under the flag of Portugal) along the coast of South America was the first extended exploration of the coast of the New World and the first to show clearly that the new lands were not a part of Asia but a new continent. That discovery is said by Vespucci’s partisans to justify naming the new continent America. Nevertheless, Vespucci has been vilified as a braggart and a windbag. Doubt has been cast on his accomplishments, although in recent decades they have in part been verified and shown to be substantial. Columbus’s first letter was printed and published in nine versions in 1493, and by 1500 it had appeared in nearly twenty editions. Yet his reports did not inspire the immediate outpouring of writing, personal and public, on the New World that might be expected. Indeed, from the last decades of the fifteenth century to the beginning decades of the seventeenth century, â€Å"four times as many books were devoted to the Turks and Asia as to America, and the proportion of books on Asia actually increased in the final decade† of that period (J. H. Elliot, The Old World and the New [1992] 12). When Columbus died in Vallodolid, Spain, in 1506, his death went unrecorded in the city chronicle. His fall to obscurity was in part caused by the fact that he was overbearing and irascible, creating many enemies. In addition,  the stories of his failures and his greed as a colonial administrator diminished him in the eyes of his contemporaries, further discouraging the celebration of his name in poems, romances, dramas, and histories. Columbus had failed to produce the expected supply of riches. He had failed to provide his voyages with effective chroniclers who could glorify his achievements, and he had no ability to effectively glorify himself in his written reports. Nor was he associated with a singular dramatic achievement—such as the conquest of the Aztec empire that raised Cortes to the stature of an epic hero. In the sixth century BC the Greek mathematician Pythagoras declared that the earth is a sphere. By the fifteenth century AD that fact was believed by the vast majority of educated Europeans. Yet a longstanding myth holds that Columbus was almost alone in believing that the earth is a sphere and for that belief suffered the ridicule of his learned contemporaries. The myth survives today, preserved in popular histories, tales, and even in popular song lyrics that proclaim: â€Å"They all laughed at Christopher Columbus /When he said the world was round. † In reporting that he was the first to see a light in the distance, on the night of October 11, before the actual sighting of land on October 12, Columbus appears to claim that he was the first to see the Indies. Note also Columbus’s solicitation of support for further exploration, his offering, if â€Å"their highnesses will render very slight assistance,† to provide gold, spice, cotton, mastic, â€Å"aloe-wood,† and â€Å"slaves, as many as they shall order to be shipped.   The explorers and conquerors of the New World in large measure based their justifications (stated or implied) for conquest on a  the cultural superiority of the conquerors; b. the physical and mental inferiority of the conquered; c. the backwardness of the Americans’ culture and technical development; d. the obligation and the ability of the intruders to make better use of the land and its resources; e. the duty to bring Christianity to the heathen. Columbus does not use all such justifications. Note his report that the Indians are â€Å"of a very acute intelligence. † Modern critics of Columbus assert that his treatment of the Indians showed a disregard for their natural rights. But the popular idea that individuals have natural rights (much less â€Å"unalienable† natural rights) did not arise for several centuries. Columbus took possession of the newly discovered land â€Å"by proclamation made and with royal standard unfurled. † His act was not a dramatic gesture meant to awe the natives but a formal step (compare the flag planting by the American astronauts on the moon in 1969) to establish, according to the international law of the day, that the lands and their inhabitants were now the possessions of Spain and subject to Spanish authority. Having taken formal and legal possession of the land and its inhabitants for Spain, Columbus assumed that he, as a royal official, was therefore justified in capturing six Indians and returning them as exhibits to the Spanish king and queen, just as a royal official could order the lives of men and women in Spain itself. Because he believed that he had landed in the Indies, Columbus used the word â€Å"Indians† to describe the people he saw. In recent years the word has been attacked as inaccurate and demeaning, although Columbus did not intend it to be so. The substitute â€Å"Native American† has been advanced, and is the most widely preferred term. The term â€Å"Siberian American† has been offered in its place as a more accurate term, but it is seen as derisive by some and remains unpopular. Columbus reported of the Indians, â€Å"With 50 [European] men all of them could be held in subjection and can be made to do whatever one might wish. † Columbus was wrong. The attempt to coerce and enslave the men and women of the New World eventually failed. Yet the alluring idea of forcing native inhabitants to work for their conquerors long endured. For instance, John Smith reports of North American native inhabitants that they could be brought â€Å"all in subjection† and exploited by â€Å"forty or thirty† Englishmen. Discovery narratives traditionally report on the technical backwardness of the people of the discovered lands. In Columbus’s age the lack of technical development and the absence of metals such as iron and steel were taken as signs of primitive inferiority. In later ages, especially after the rise of the idea of the Noble Savage, a lack of technical achievement was taken as a sign of virtuous simplicity, of a life free of the dominance of the machine and the technological horrors that accompany it. Columbus describes the technical ignorance of the inhabitants and their unfamiliarity with metal-edged weapons: â€Å"I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves. † Compare John Smith’s report of the Indians’ fear of gunpowder and firearms their amazement at the movements of a compass needle. The technical ignorance of a reportedly benighted people has often been and is still used to justify their subjugation and colonization by a technically superior culture that asserts its right to conquer, usually because it can â€Å"make better use of the land. † In addition, there was recourse to the religious justification for colonization—the argument that Christians have the right and the duty to lead (by force if necessary) those living in spiritual darkness into the light of religious truth and to the blessings of heaven. The religious justification is offered as a benefit to the pagans themselves. The technological argument is not. Rather its end is the fruitful exploitation of the land and its natural resources for the colonizers. But even the technological argument for exploiting the land has its biblical justification in the declarations that the land exists for the benefit of man, who therefore has an obligation to exploit and â€Å"subdue† it (Genesis 1:28). That Columbus was a sincere believer in Christianity is not in doubt. His devout faith is evident inthe names he gave the first islands he encountered in the New World: San Salvador and Isla de Santa Maria de Concepcion. Yet his religious motives for colonizing the lands he discovered have sometimes been dismissed as a disguise for his true motives: greed for gold and desire to extract riches from the land. The desire for religious conversions and for gold is evident in almost all the early narratives of New World discovery. Columbus hoped to bring Christianity to the heathen by establishing the religion of Spain in the new lands. He had no desire to promote religious liberty and would have strongly resisted the idea. John Smith similarly believed that the English lands in North America should be colonized under the protection of an established church—the Church of England. It is worthwhile to compare the views of Columbus and Smith to the views of the Pilgrims and the Puritans who wished to escape what they believed to be an oppressive established church—though they themselves then demonstrated an oppressive narrowness with respect to departures from the confines of their views. Notice the appearance in Columbus’s reports of themes later apparent in American literature: a. America as a land suited to Christian evangelism and the ultimate coming of â€Å"the church triumphant† b. America as a paradise of exotic landscape and people and of simple and innocent life c. America as a place for economic, political, and spiritual opportunity and personal fulfillment. THOMAS HARIOT Thomas Hariot was among the first British explorers to arrive in the New World. Unlike Columbus, he was at least as much a scientist as an explorer. He was particularly interested in astronomy, optics, and the study of mathematics. Hariot’s A Briefe and True Report of the Newfound Land of Virginia gives perspectives on the New World that differ from Columbus’s in accordance with his intellectual interests, as well as his nationality and the part of the world (Virginia, as opposed to the West Indies) that he visited. The third, and final, part of his report, presented in the anthology, offers another view of the inhabitants of the newly discovered land. JOHN SMITH John Smith has been described as the author of â€Å"the first English book written in America† (for his A True Relation of Occurrences and Accidents in Virginia [1608]), and his work is seen as a forerunner of a native, American literature. Smith’s accounts are also an early example of New World writing that emphasizes human qualities commonly thought to be typically American. Note his references to a. Practicality; b. Boastfulness; c. dislike of showy elegance; d. desire to exploit the environment. Smith’s description of New England combines two images of the New World that were current in Europe in the seventeenth century: a  the image of America as a paradise, a voluptuous land of easy riches b. the image of America as a land that would reward those showing the Protestant virtues of enterprise and willingness to work hard. The first image draws upon ancient myths that describe gardens of ease, joy, and eternal life. The second derives from the ideals of the capitalist middle class that rose to power with the end of feudalism in Europe. A third image, of America as a New Jerusalem, as a place for religious salvation, is not evident in Smith’s writings. Consider the rise to prominence of that third image after 1630 and the coming of the Puritans to Massachusetts Bay. Note how Smith writes of the visible, material world—describing plants, animals, and men—rather than the immaterial, speculative world of philosophy and theology. Smith assumed that the New World is for man’s exploitation, for his physical enjoyment, and for his earthly fulfillment—an assumption at odds with the Puritans’ view of the New World as a place of spiritual testing and of preparation for a fulfillment to be achieved only in heaven. Smith is often contrasted to the Puritans (and the Pilgrims), but there are these similarities: a. Both saw America as a place where individual men and women could escape from Old-World restraints and traditions. b. Both celebrated the possibility of communal, as well as individual regeneration in the lands claimed by England in the New World. c. Both condemned luxury and emphasized the virtues of hard work, abstinence, and enterprise. d. And both saw a life of ease and luxury as a sign of decay that portends inevitable destruction. Smith made no mention of religious freedom as a reason for colonizing. His own motives for colonizing (and what he believed to be the prime motives of others) were secular and materialistic: â€Å"For I am not so simple as to think that ever any other motive than wealth will ever erect there a commonwealth. † General History and his Description of New England are propaganda for colonization as much as they are descriptions of the New World. That is evident in the number and the variety of advantages he cites for colonization: a. profits for investors—†satisfaction of the adventurers† b  markets for English manufacturers—a letter survives, written by Smith to the London Society of Cordwainers (shoemakers) to point out that the Cordwainers, in their own self-interest, should support the settlement of Virginia because the rough land and the shell-strewn beaches of the New World were certain to wear out many shoes c. glory for the colonizers and their monarch—†eternizing of the memory† d. abundant raw materials, especially timber and naval stores (â€Å"pitch, tar, masts, yards†) e. good health for colonists—†not any was sick but two† f. riches (especially from fish)  freedom from harsh landlords, from law-breaking multitudes, from â€Å"tedious pleas in law† h. abundance of land. Who can desire more content† i. the bringing of â€Å"poor savages to know Christ and humanity† j. work for the poor, the idle, orphans, apprentices, and their masters k. sport for gentlemen—†For gentlemen: what exercise† Until the settling of Jamestown, English colonizing efforts in the New World were conspicuous for their failure. The only colonies that England had successfully established before Jamestown and Plymouth were colonies planted in Ireland. Some of the essentials for colonizing success set forth by Smith in A Description of New England (â€Å"provided always that first there be †): a. potent local government b. housing c. means of self-defense d. adequate provisions e. trained craftsmen Many reasons have been offered to explain why the Jamestown colonists failed to exert themselves sufficiently in establishing their colony: a. that too many of the colonists were â€Å"ne’er-do-wells† and gentlemen who were unused to hard work b. That the colonists were weakened by hunger and disease c. that the â€Å"communal basis† of the settlement discouraged individual enterprise   that many of the early colonizing reports, especially those written by the Spanish colonizers, encouraged the expectation that riches would be quickly found and profits quickly earned, that the â€Å"naturals† could be forced to supply the colonists with food, and that therefore diligent labor was unnecessary e. that the colonists expected their needs to be met by their London backers Note that none of the above explanations suggests that the English colonists, lacking government support such as the Spanish enjoyed, failed because their attempt to colonize Virginia at that time and place was simply beyond their abilities. Smith attributed the difficulties at Jamestown to dissension, weak government, lack of organization, and mistaken attempts by a central governing body (in London) to exert control at long distance. Such problems of government and society arose partly from human characteristics that later came to be considered distinctly American: a. radical individualism b. disrespect for law and governments c. hostility toward distant, central governments. Contempt for traditions of rank, privilege, and authority Note how such characteristics were prominent among the causes of the American Revolution, 170 years later, and how those same characteristics win popular praise today. It is also notable that the American environment and its great distance from Europe prohibited the easy transfer to America of England’s a. feudal class structure; b. widespread belief in the worth of a noble class and an idle gentry; c. upper-class contempt for those in â€Å"trade† or whose jobs required hard, physical labor; d. high valuation of the contemplative, intellectual life. The New World free essay sample That idea of a distant paradise on earth shaped the way Europeans came to think of America after Columbus and his successors reported their discoveries. For example, the following mythic lands may have served as inspirations for the alluring idea of America as a place of joy, ease, riches, and regeneration: a. the Garden of the Hesperides of Greek myth b. the Elysian Fields described by the poet Homer c. the Islands of the Blessed, described by Hesiod, Horace, and Pindar d. Atlantis, described by Plato in the Timaeus and the Critias e. the Garden of Eden f. the Fortunate Isles, described in the Voyage of St. Brendan (ninth century) g. the enchanted gardens of Renaissance literature Columbus’s discovery of America has been described as â€Å"perhaps the most important event recorded in secular history. † On the other hand, it has been pointed out that had Columbus not discovered America, it would soon have been discovered by some other explorer. We will write a custom essay sample on The New World or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Edmundo O’Gorman, in The Invention of America (1961), asserted that America was not discovered but was invented by Europeans in the 16th and following centuries. The contrary idea of America as a place of degenerated plants, animals, and humans was also held by Europeans long before it was set forth by the French naturalist Buffon (1707–1788) in the early volumes of his Natural History (1749–1804). Thomas Jefferson made effective reply in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1785), but remnants of the idea continued to persist in the European popular mind. Modern readers are often surprised to learn of Columbus’s never-ending insistence, even in the face of contrary evidence, that he had reached the coast of Asia, not a new continent. That mistaken certainty was in large part caused by his faith in faulty calculations showing the earth’s circumference to be about 18,000 rather than 25,000 miles. The ancient geographer Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth with nearly perfect accuracy in the third century BCE. But Columbus, as did the best navigators of his time, relied on charts based on measurements made by the second-century-CE astronomer Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus). The calculation of the earth’s circumference presented in Ptolemy’s Guide to Geography (published, in Latin, in 1409) was off by more than 25 percent. Had the calculation been accurate, Columbus would have been correct in assuming that after sailing west for 33 days, he had indeed reached the Orient. Columbus’s writing style is spare and unornamented. In contrast, the letters (the first published in 1504) of Amerigo Vespucci, reporting his voyages to the New World from 1497 to 1504 (he claimed four,historians credit him with two), were filled with vivid and titillating details describing the new land and its inhabitants. As a result, Vespucci’s reports received greater attention throughout Europe than the reports (as distinct from the discovery itself) of Columbus. Because of Vespucci’s renown and because of his real accomplishments, the German geographer Martin Waldseemuller, in making his influential map of the new continent (1507), applied the name â€Å"America† to South America. Eventually, through popular usage, â€Å"America† came to be used for the North America as well. Vespucci’s voyage of 1501–1502 (under the flag of Portugal) along the coast of South America was the first extended exploration of the coast of the New World and the first to show clearly that the new lands were not a part of Asia but a new continent. That discovery is said by Vespucci’s partisans to justify naming the new continent America. Nevertheless, Vespucci has been vilified as a braggart and a windbag. Doubt has been cast on his accomplishments, although in recent decades they have in part been verified and shown to be substantial. Columbus’s first letter was printed and published in nine versions in 1493, and by 1500 it had appeared in nearly twenty editions. Yet his reports did not inspire the immediate outpouring of writing, personal and public, on the New World that might be expected. Indeed, from the last decades of the fifteenth century to the beginning decades of the seventeenth century, â€Å"four times as many books were devoted to the Turks and Asia as to America, and the proportion of books on Asia actually increased in the final decade† of that period (J. H. Elliot, The Old World and the New [1992] 12). When Columbus died in Vallodolid, Spain, in 1506, his death went unrecorded in the city chronicle. His fall to obscurity was in part caused by the fact that he was overbearing and irascible, creating many enemies. In addition,  the stories of his failures and his greed as a colonial administrator diminished him in the eyes of his contemporaries, further discouraging the celebration of his name in poems, romances, dramas, and histories. Columbus had failed to produce the expected supply of riches. He had failed to provide his voyages with effective chroniclers who could glorify his achievements, and he had no ability to effectively glorify himself in his written reports. Nor was he associated with a singular dramatic achievement—such as the conquest of the Aztec empire that raised Cortes to the stature of an epic hero. In the sixth century BC the Greek mathematician Pythagoras declared that the earth is a sphere. By the fifteenth century AD that fact was believed by the vast majority of educated Europeans. Yet a longstanding myth holds that Columbus was almost alone in believing that the earth is a sphere and for that belief suffered the ridicule of his learned contemporaries. The myth survives today, preserved in popular histories, tales, and even in popular song lyrics that proclaim: â€Å"They all laughed at Christopher Columbus /When he said the world was round. In reporting that he was the first to see a light in the distance, on the night of October 11, before the actual sighting of land on October 12, Columbus appears to claim that he was the first to see the Indies. Note also Columbus’s solicitation of support for further exploration, his offering, if â€Å"their highnesses will render very slight assistance,† to provide gold, spice, cotton, mastic, â€Å"aloe-wood,† and â€Å"slaves, as many as they shall order to be shipped. The explorers and conquerors of the New World in large measure based their justifications (stated or implied) for conquest on a.  the cultural superiority of the conquerors; b. the physical and mental inferiority of the conquered; c. the backwardness of the Americans’ culture and technical development; d. the obligation and the ability of the intruders to make better use of the land and its resources; e. the duty to bring Christianity to the heathen. Columbus does not use all such justifications. Note his report that the Indians are â€Å"of a very acute intelligence. † Modern critics of Columbus assert that his treatment of the Indians showed a disregard for their natural rights. But the popular idea that individuals have natural rights (much less â€Å"unalienable† natural rights) did not arise for several centuries. Columbus took possession of the newly discovered land â€Å"by proclamation made and with royal standard unfurled. † His act was not a dramatic gesture meant to awe the natives but a formal step (compare the flag planting by the American astronauts on the moon in 1969) to establish, according to the international law of the day, that the lands and their inhabitants were now the possessions of Spain and subject to Spanish authority. Having taken formal and legal possession of the land and its inhabitants for Spain, Columbus assumed that he, as a royal official, was therefore justified in capturing six Indians and returning them as exhibits to the Spanish king and queen, just as a royal official could order the lives of men and women in Spain itself. Because he believed that he had landed in the Indies, Columbus used the word â€Å"Indians† to describe the people he saw. In recent years the word has been attacked as inaccurate and demeaning, although Columbus did not intend it to be so. The substitute â€Å"Native American† has been advanced, and is the most widely preferred term. The term â€Å"Siberian American† has been offered in its place as a more accurate term, but it is seen as derisive by some and remains unpopular. Columbus reported of the Indians, â€Å"With 50 [European] men all of them could be held in subjection and can be made to do whatever one might wish. † Columbus was wrong. The attempt to coerce and enslave the men and women of the New World eventually failed. Yet the alluring idea of forcing native inhabitants to work for their conquerors long endured. For instance, John Smith reports of North American native inhabitants that they could be brought â€Å"all in subjection† and exploited by â€Å"forty or thirty† Englishmen. Discovery narratives traditionally report on the technical backwardness of the people of the discovered lands. In Columbus’s age the lack of technical development and the absence of metals such as iron and steel were taken as signs of primitive inferiority. In later ages, especially after the rise of the idea of the Noble Savage, a lack of technical achievement was taken as a sign of virtuous simplicity, of a life free of the dominance of the machine and the technological horrors that accompany it. Columbus describes the technical ignorance of the inhabitants and their unfamiliarity with metal-edged weapons: â€Å"I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves. † Compare John Smith’s report of the Indians’ fear of gunpowder and firearms their amazement at the movements of a compass needle. The technical ignorance of a reportedly benighted people has often been and is still used to justify their subjugation and colonization by a technically superior culture that asserts its right to conquer, usually because it can â€Å"make better use of the land. † In addition, there was recourse to the religious justification for colonization—the argument that Christians have the right and the duty to lead (by force if necessary) those living in spiritual darkness into the light of religious truth and to the blessings of heaven. The religious justification is offered as a benefit to the pagans themselves. The technological argument is not. Rather its end is the fruitful exploitation of the land and its natural resources for the colonizers. But even the technological argument for exploiting the land has its biblical justification in the declarations that the land exists for the benefit of man, who therefore has an obligation to exploit and â€Å"subdue† it (Genesis 1:28). That Columbus was a sincere believer in Christianity is not in doubt. His devout faith is evident inthe names he gave the first islands he encountered in the New World: San Salvador and Isla de Santa Maria de Concepcion. Yet his religious motives for colonizing the lands he discovered have sometimes been dismissed as a disguise for his true motives: greed for gold and desire to extract riches from the land. The desire for religious conversions and for gold is evident in almost all the early narratives of New World discovery. Columbus hoped to bring Christianity to the heathen by establishing the religion of Spain in the new lands. He had no desire to promote religious liberty and would have strongly resisted the idea. John Smith similarly believed that the English lands in North America should be colonized under the protection of an established church—the Church of England. It is worthwhile to compare the views of Columbus and Smith to the views of the Pilgrims and the Puritans who wished to escape what they believed to be an oppressive established church—though they themselves then demonstrated an oppressive narrowness with respect to departures from the confines of their views. Notice the appearance in Columbus’s reports of themes later apparent in American literature: a. America as a land suited to Christian evangelism and the ultimate coming of â€Å"the church triumphant† b. America as a paradise of exotic landscape and people and of simple and innocent life c. America as a place for economic, political, and spiritual opportunity and personal fulfillment. THOMAS HARIOT Thomas Hariot was among the first British explorers to arrive in the New World. Unlike Columbus, he was at least as much a scientist as an explorer. He was particularly interested in astronomy, optics, and the study of mathematics. Hariot’s A Briefe and True Report of the Newfound Land of Virginia gives perspectives on the New World that differ from Columbus’s in accordance with his intellectual interests, as well as his nationality and the part of the world (Virginia, as opposed to the West Indies) that he visited. The third, and final, part of his report, presented in the anthology, offers another view of the inhabitants of the newly discovered land. JOHN SMITH John Smith has been described as the author of â€Å"the first English book written in America† (for his A True Relation of Occurrences and Accidents in Virginia [1608]), and his work is seen as a forerunner of a native, American literature. Smith’s accounts are also an early example of New World writing that emphasizes human qualities commonly thought to be typically American. Note his references to a. Practicality; b. Boastfulness; c. dislike of showy elegance; d. desire to exploit the environment. Smith’s description of New England combines two images of the New World that were current in Europe in the seventeenth century: a.  the image of America as a paradise, a voluptuous land of easy riches b. the image of America as a land that would reward those showing the Protestant virtues of enterprise and willingness to work hard. The first image draws upon ancient myths that describe gardens of ease, joy, and eternal life. The second derives from the ideals of the capitalist middle class that rose to power with the end of feudalism in Europe. A third image, of America as a New Jerusalem, as a place for religious salvation, is not evident in Smith’s writings. Consider the rise to prominence of that third image after 1630 and the coming of the Puritans to Massachusetts Bay. Note how Smith writes of the visible, material world—describing plants, animals, and men—rather than the immaterial, speculative world of philosophy and theology. Smith assumed that the New World is for man’s exploitation, for his physical enjoyment, and for his earthly fulfillment—an assumption at odds with the Puritans’ view of the New World as a place of spiritual testing and of preparation for a fulfillment to be achieved only in heaven. Smith is often contrasted to the Puritans (and the Pilgrims), but there are these similarities: a. Both saw America as a place where individual men and women could escape from Old-World restraints and traditions. b. Both celebrated the possibility of communal, as well as individual regeneration in the lands claimed by England in the New World. c. Both condemned luxury and emphasized the virtues of hard work, abstinence, and enterprise. d. And both saw a life of ease and luxury as a sign of decay that portends inevitable destruction. Smith made no mention of religious freedom as a reason for colonizing. His own motives for colonizing (and what he believed to be the prime motives of others) were secular and materialistic: â€Å"For I am not so simple as to think that ever any other motive than wealth will ever erect there a commonwealth. † General History and his Description of New England are propaganda for colonization as much as they are descriptions of the New World. That is evident in the number and the variety of advantages he cites for colonization: a. profits for investors—†satisfaction of the adventurers†. Markets for English manufacturers—a letter survives, written by Smith to the London Society of Cordwainers (shoemakers) to point out that the Cordwainers, in their own self-interest, should support the settlement of Virginia because the rough land and the shell-strewn beaches of the New World were certain to wear out many shoes c. glory for the colonizers and their monarch—†eternizing of the memory† d. abundant raw materials, especially timber and naval stores. Some of the essentials for colonizing success set forth by Smith in A Description of New England (â€Å"provided always that first there be †): a. potent local government b. housing c. means of self-defense d. adequate provisions e. trained craftsmen Many reasons have been offered to explain why the Jamestown colonists failed to exert themselves sufficiently in establishing their colony: a. that too many of the colonists were â€Å"ne’er-do-wells† and gentlemen who were unused to hard work b. that the colonists were weakened by hunger and disease c. that the â€Å"communal basis† of the settlement discouraged individual enterprise. That many of the early colonizing reports, especially those written by the Spanish colonizers, encouraged the expectation that riches would be quickly found and profits quickly earned, that the â€Å"naturals† could be forced to supply the colonists with food, and that therefore diligent labor was unnecessary e. that the colonists expected their needs to be met by their London backers Note that none of the above explanations suggests that the English colonists, lacking government support such as the Spanish enjoyed, failed because their attempt to colonize Virginia at that time and place was simply beyond their abilities. Smith attributed the difficulties at Jamestown to dissension, weak government, lack of organization, and mistaken attempts by a central governing body (in London) to exert control at long distance. Such problems of government and society arose partly from human characteristics that later came to be considered distinctly American: a. radical individualism b. disrespect for law and governments c. hostility toward distant, central governments d. Contempt for traditions of rank, privilege, and authority Note how such characteristics were prominent among the causes of the American Revolution, 170 years later, and how those same characteristics win popular praise today. It is also notable that the American environment and its great distance from Europe prohibited the easy transfer to America of England’s a. feudal class structure; b. widespread belief in the worth of a noble class and an idle gentry; c. upper-class contempt for those in â€Å"trade† or whose jobs required hard, physical labor; d. high valuation of the contemplative, intellectual life; Customs of labor, farming, law, and political organization. The travel literature of the 16th and 17th centuries commonly reported incidents in which New World savages were awestruck by examples of European science and technology. When Powhatan’s followers captured Smith, in December 1607, he was first exhibited before neighboring tribes. Smith’s description of events permits the conclusion that the Indians displayed him as a great trophy because he was a noble warrior (for his brave resistance) and a mighty wizard (for his tricks with a compass). Perhaps a better reason for the exhibition before local sub-tribes and their chiefs was revealed in 1845 when a manuscript letter (written in 1608) by Edward Maria Wingfield, former President of the Colony (and Smith’s enemy), was discovered and published. Wingfield wrote: having him prisoner, [they] carried him to [their] neighbors to see if any of them knew him for one of those which had been, some two or three years before us, in a river amongst them northward and [had] taken away some Indians from them by force. At last [they] brought him to the great Powhatan (of whom before we had no knowledge) who sent him home to our town the 8th of January [1608]. Pocahontas’s formal, tribal name was â€Å"Matoaka. † The nickname â€Å"Pocahontas† (meaning â€Å"playfulone†) was given to her by her father, Powhatan. Such nicknames were common among the Native peoples in Virginia. Powhatan himself had the tribal name of â€Å"Wahunsonacock,† the name â€Å"Powhatan† later takenfrom the name of the region in which he ruled. At the time of their adventure, Smith was 28 and Pocahontas 12 or 13. She died in 1617 while on a visit to England, well before any detailed description of her rescue of Smith was published. It is not known whether Smith saw Pocahontas while she was in England, and little is known of her true character. In his History of Travel into Virginia Britannia (1612), William Strachey described Pocahontas as: a well featured but wanton young girl, Powhatan’s daughter, [who], sometimes resorting to our fort, of the age then of 11 or 12 years, [would] get the boys forth with her into the market place and made them [cart]wheel, falling on their hands turning their heels upwards, whom she would follow, and [cart]wheel so herself, naked as she was, all the fort over. It is interesting to consider what qualities in Strachey’s â€Å"wanton young girl† and Smith’s savior helped make her the first heroine of American myth and folklore. Some points to note: a. Pocahontas’s similarity to ancient mythic heroines, daughters of kings who protect a heroic stranger renounce their native lands and people, yet fail to marry the hero—heroines . b. the similarity of Pocahontas’s experiences to those told in the various medieval romances c. Pocahontas’s similarity to historical American Indian heroines, such as Sacagawea (who served as guide and interpreter for Lewis and Clark) and Malinche (interpreter for Cortes in his conquest of the Aztecs) d. Pocahontas’s early appearance in literature, first referred to in Ben Jonson’s play Staple of News (1625) and then the subject of later works, such as (1) The Female American (1767), a novel published in London and described as â€Å"a second Robinson Crusoe†, and (2) The Indian Princess (1808), an American play, the first of many Pocahontas dramas, and the first of the vastly popular â€Å"Indian Plays† of the nineteenth-century American stage.

Saturday, March 14, 2020

Reading Comprehension Questions

Reading Comprehension Questions Teachers have a tough job. Not only do they need to teach their core content areas, but they must also help their students master reading comprehension, too! Sometimes, its hard to do it all in context when you need to focus on the skills. Below, please find free reading comprehension worksheets complete with multiple choice questions and some essay questions, too. Each worksheet can be completed online, or you can print the attached pdf file for ease of classroom use.   The worksheets will help your students prepare for a reading comprehension test,  or even the critical reading section of any standardized test like the SAT, PSAT, GRE and more! Bonus? You can have them on hand for easy substitute lesson plans if you have to be out. Thats just a win-win! Nonfiction Reading Comprehension Questions This link will take you to a slew of reading comprehension worksheets based on nonfiction passages. The passage word counts range from 500 to over 2,000, and the content varies from famous speeches to biographies to art. Use the worksheets and accompanying multiple choice questions to test your students mastery of finding the main idea, assessing authors purpose, making inferences, understanding vocabulary in context, and more! Fiction Reading Comprehension Questions Here, find a range of reading comprehension worksheets based on fictional passages. The passage word counts range from the 800s up to 3,000. The settings range from a modern day  kitchen to 19th century  Parisian reform school. And like the nonfiction reading comprehension questions above, these focus on skills like main idea, inferences, vocab in context and more, too. Main Idea Worksheets While the nonfiction and fiction worksheets above offer varied questions, these worksheets focus only on finding the main idea. Here, youll find a worksheet of separate paragraphs followed by either multiple choice questions where students will have to get rid of distractors to find the correct main idea (getting rid of choices too narrow, too broad, partially correct, etc.), or open-ended questions where students will need to compose the main idea whether its stated or implied.   Vocabulary in Context Worksheets Each of the worksheets in this link focuses on a snippet from a story or nonfiction article and is followed by multiple choice questions asking students to determine the meaning of the vocabulary word based on the context. Words range in difficulty, although context is incredibly important in each selection in determining the meaning.   Inference Worksheets The first three worksheets come with pdfs for printing and included both open-ended and multiple choice questions. The last three are meant to be completed online. Students will look at pictures, and based on the photos or cartoons, make an inference backed up by the evidence displayed on the screen. Authors Purpose Worksheets These worksheets offer a variety of paragraphs, followed by an authors purpose question similar to those on standardized tests. For each paragraph, the students will need to select the choice that best represents the authors purpose for writing the passage. This is a very different concept from discovering the main idea or determining the authors tone.    Authors Purpose Worksheet 1  Authors Purpose Worksheet 2   Authors Tone Worksheets This skill set is currently being built up! But currently, you can find one authors tone worksheet with more to come very soon. Authors Tone Worksheet 1

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Interactions of hazardous materials Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Interactions of hazardous materials - Essay Example Total dose of rem determines how much the radiation can harm a person. A 25 rem dosage of radiation causes changes that can be detected in the blood while doses around 100 rems normally don’t have immediate effects. Radiation of 50 rems causes nausea, 55 rem fatigue, 70 rem vomiting, 75 hair loss, 90 diarrheas, 100 hemorrhage and 400 can possibly cause death within a period of 2 months. 1,000 rems cause destruction of intestinal lining and death within two weeks while rem of 2,000 damages the central nerve system and causes death within minutes (Walker, 2006). In Three Mile Island incident, the radiation that was released was minimal, far below the levels associated with health effects resulting from radiation exposure. In the incident, 2.4 million curies of radioactive noble gases and 16 curies of radioiodines were released (Mac Kinney & Schoch, 2003). The resulted average radiation dose to people living in that area was 1.4 mrem. In chest X-ray, a patient receives 3.2 mrem this is twice more than the radiation released during the incident. In the Chernobyl incident in the Soviet Union, the radiation level in some areas was about 20,000 roentgens per hour and this cause death to some workers. Average radiation dose for the people who was affected most was 120 mSv; this was mainly those who were assisting in the recovery operation and a dosage of 30 mSv for the evacuated

Monday, February 10, 2020

How will Spotify change the traditional music industry Assignment

How will Spotify change the traditional music industry - Assignment Example try, where consumers do not purchase their music, and where artists, producers and the company itself to not generate profits by directly selling music, surely, Spotify generates in a lot of changes in how the music industry works. In this case, the researcher would like to look at how Spotify changes the traditional music industry by using the five forces, which includes the following: Supplier Buyer Competitors Threats of New Entrants Threats of Substitutes In addition, the researcher would also try to integrate the different strategic maps used in the module, in able to provide a deeper breadth and insight into the analysis of the entry of Spotify in relation with the traditional music industry. In particular, the researcher would focus upon using the triangle map and the delta model to give deeper insights on the changes that Spotify will bring to the music industry. How would Spotify then affect the force of suppliers in the music industry? Of course, in the music industry, one of the main suppliers includes the company that distributes music to consumers, which in this case is the Swedish company Spotify. However, it is important to take note of the fact that the supply process is not a simple process, but it is rather complicated; this includes agreements with respect to the artists and the producers of the music that Spotify is about to offer to consumers. In the traditional music industry, the supply process goes this way: the company (which either distributes music through the sale of CDs or downloadable digitized music) pays royalty to the artists of the music. Then, the distributing company would earn profits through the direct sales of the copy of the music, to where the artists would also have some percentages. In this case, extra income for the company... The "How will Spotify change the traditional music industry" essay, describes the effect of the Spotify on the music business. While Spotify actually believes that â€Å"artist payments are increasing all the time as ad revenues and subscriptions go up†, it actually remains to be proven in the future. Such circumstances may pose threats with respect to the supply side of the music industry. However, the major change in the supply side (using the Delta model) would be in the form of redefining the customer relationship, wherein the supplier would need to establish long term relationships with their consumers in order for the company to ensure artists that they would get competitive royalties, as well as ensuring that they would attract enough ads so that they can get enough revenues to make artists happy and make their business profitable. With regards to the buyer side of the music industry, Spotify also introduces major changes. In traditional companies, they actually entice customers to own albums and other music collections for their favoured artists through their purchase of CDs or downloadable digital files. In this case, the central theme would include inducing consumers to actually own music, and expanding their personal collection. In this case, the major break with Spotify is that it does not induce consumers to own a personal collection of music; on the contrary, it entices consumers to enjoy the music that they want, when they want, and where they want, without actually owning it.