The Midwife :: essays research papers

The Midwife’s Apprentice is written by Karen Cushman. The setting takes place in the past nearly five hundred years ago from now. It is also a fiction book   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alyce formerly known as Beetle or Dung Beetle has found a home in a village with a Midwife who feeds her only morsels of what hard work she does. But before that the tale of how she was found must be told.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beetle found herself snug as a bug in a dung heap. She slept for warmth, completely dismissing the horrid smell of it. Then a sharp question asked â€Å"You girl. Are you alive or dead?† she promptly opened her eyes and was taken in after tell the woman she could do hard work and not eat much. So that’s how she ended up as where she is.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Well the midwife didn’t really treat her as an apprentice for she spoke unkindly and forbid that Alyce would ever see what she was helping women do. But Alyce did! And how horrible it was, the Midwife would scream, curse and slap the poor women until they could take no more and push out the baby.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once the midwife was not there and Alyce had to help the woman with the baby. She told the husband to brew whatever was needed to help her. Then she began talking to her softly and soothing her till the baby came out into the world when it was almost certain that it would not make it. When the midwife got there she was thoroughly mad. The husband of the wife said Alyce was more kind and efficient and that the midwife was no good.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the end she fled to a small inn near the village where she saved another baby. The Midwife :: essays research papers The Midwife’s Apprentice is written by Karen Cushman. The setting takes place in the past nearly five hundred years ago from now. It is also a fiction book   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alyce formerly known as Beetle or Dung Beetle has found a home in a village with a Midwife who feeds her only morsels of what hard work she does. But before that the tale of how she was found must be told.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beetle found herself snug as a bug in a dung heap. She slept for warmth, completely dismissing the horrid smell of it. Then a sharp question asked â€Å"You girl. Are you alive or dead?† she promptly opened her eyes and was taken in after tell the woman she could do hard work and not eat much. So that’s how she ended up as where she is.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Well the midwife didn’t really treat her as an apprentice for she spoke unkindly and forbid that Alyce would ever see what she was helping women do. But Alyce did! And how horrible it was, the Midwife would scream, curse and slap the poor women until they could take no more and push out the baby.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once the midwife was not there and Alyce had to help the woman with the baby. She told the husband to brew whatever was needed to help her. Then she began talking to her softly and soothing her till the baby came out into the world when it was almost certain that it would not make it. When the midwife got there she was thoroughly mad. The husband of the wife said Alyce was more kind and efficient and that the midwife was no good.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the end she fled to a small inn near the village where she saved another baby.

Language and Literacy Essay

Language and Literacy what are they? How do they relate? How do we learn them? These are just a few questions one might ask them self when they contemplate the effect language and literacy have on learning. â€Å"Forms of language and literacy develop supportively and interactively. Children build on oral language knowledge and practices as they learn to read and write’ they develop key understandings about reading through writing, and they extend their writing range through reading† (Braunger & Lewis, 2005). This illustrates how at even the most basic level, language and literacy are interconnected from the very beginning. Therefore, in order to dissect each to see how children learn each, one needs to have a full understanding of both language and literacy apart from each other before one can fully understand how they work together. Language is first and foremost functional. It can be divided into two parts; written language and oral language. â€Å"Language is essential to learning, and ready, as a specialized form of language, is not only a basic skill, it is an indispensible tool for critical and creative thinking† (Braunger & Lewis 2005). There are many similarities between written and oral language, â€Å"Reading, writing, speaking and listening, at the deep levels of production and comprehension, are parallel manifestations of the same vital human function – the mind’s effort to create meaning’(Cambourne, 1988)† (Braunger & Lewis, 2005). For both written and oral language development, children go through a similar learning process; seeing/hearing, recognizing, awareness of the differences in what they are seeing/hearing, participation in speaking/writing (Braunger & Lewis, 2005). While there are many similarities, the two modes of language are different in many complex and interesting ways. These differences are due to such â€Å"pragmatic factors as psychological and physical distance from audience, function, amount of time people have to produce language, and degree of permanence (Chafe & Danielwicz, 1987; Olson 1977; Rubin, 1978; Tannen, 1982). The most salient difference is that the two require different kinds of knowledge that learners must acquire in order to operate with and on them† (Braunger & Lewis, 2005). Additional differences are that each mode requires specific knowledge that cannot be transferred to the other and also that â€Å"written language is doubly symbolic; readers and writers must become at least somewhat conscious of their knowledge of oral language, which isn’t necessary in speaking† (Braunger & Lewis, 2005). Another major difference between written and oral language is its accessibility. Oral language is very readily available through conversations, recordings, music, etc. whereas written language is much harder to come by since it has to be created and then made accessible for others (Braunger & Lewis, 2005). Aside from their similarities and differences listed above written and oral language make up the building blocks of literacy. â€Å"Literacy allows us to make connections between our own and others’ experiences; to inquire systematically into important matters; and to access, analyze and evaluate information and arguments. In short, literacy is key to success in school and beyond for effective participation in the workforce, the community, and the body politic† (Braunger & Lewis, 2005). Literacy occurs in stages with the primary development taking place during childhood and adolescents. During adolescents is when our literacy knowledgebase grows and deepens the most. Some of the key features in helping develop an adolescents literacy are; reading a wide variety of texts and genres, teacher modeling, cognitive collaboration, and assessment of strengths. However parents play the most important role in a child’s language and literacy development. It has been shown that the more involved families are in the literacy development of children, the more success the student will achieve (Braunger & Lewis, 2005). It has also been proven that children who have more language experiences such as, opportunities to talk, experiences with stories both oral and written, verbal interaction between adult and child during story readings, and opportunities to draw and write, fare better once they reach a school learning environment since they have had more exposure to the things they are learning in the classroom. This early preparation and learning is vital for building a student’s confidence which will affect all aspects of their schooling. (Braunger & Lewis, 2005). â€Å"The diversity of public schools today does not support a ‘one size fits all’ program of reading instruction† (Braunger & Lewis, 2005). In other words, we as educators need to ensure that the literacy programs we use are tailored to fit the needs and interests of our individual students if we want to ensure they develop their language and literacy skills to the fullest. ? References Jane Braunger & Jan Patricia Lewis, (2005). Building a Knowledge Base in Reading (2nd ed. )

Gandhi A Moral Exemplar - 1457 Words

Mahatma Gandhi is practically a household name worldly due to his non-violent activism work in both South Africa and India. In fact, he led India’s non-violence movement to liberation from British rule through acts of peaceful protest. To many, Gandhi is a moral exemplar, because despite cruel treatment, he avoided retaliation, while still accomplishing to rid his country of British tyranny. He also worked as an activist for many other humanitarian causes, such as poverty relief, religious causes, and women’s rights. He used the pillars of Hinduism to guide his work, and many people loved him both before and after his assassination in 1948. However, his legacy is tainted. Exploration of how he treated his wife has uncovered a less pacifistic and caring side of Gandhi. Despite this exception in his character, the notion that a single man could shake the world without violence sparks curiosity about the motivation that lay behind his power. Gandhi s values and philosophy grounded his work, evident in how he balanced his family and work, his sense of right and wrong, and how he carried out his beliefs through his civil disobedience. While Gandhi’s philosophy and values were exemplary, they primarily served to better his image rather than to better the world. Gandhi is most known for his actions of civil disobedience , which exemplified his values of kindness and righteousness, while always preserving his untarnished image. For example, He often recruited people to protestShow MoreRelatedEssay The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil1788 Words   |  8 Pagesthe assertion that situational power is stronger than we appreciate, and may come to dominate individual dispositions. I review classic and current research on: conformity, obedience to authority, role-playing, dehumanization, deindividuation and moral disengagement. 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