Effectiveness of Active Learning Over Passive Learning

Effectiveness of Active Learning Over Passive Learning In this study, there has been a thorough examination and careful observations which show, that within passive learning although a primitive form of learning there is also some kind of active learning taking place. There is no clear difference between the active and passive learning and there is some kind of active learning taking place within the passive learning which is unconsciously being ignored. In reality, active learning is the measurement of the extent to which the learner is challenged to use his or her mental abilities while learning. The effect of various teaching and learning strategies show the clear impact of active forms of teaching and learning techniques on higher level students but there are still some factors that are posing a great barrier to active learning at secondary levels. These barriers involve curriculum, content, teaching pedagogy, school and classroom environment, behaviour, social factors and new electronic media (mobiles and social networking sites) be ing the worst. In order to create a better active learning environment within secondary schools, there is strong need for giving more autonomy to teachers within the classes. There are also some factors which have been discussed that could influence the students involvement within the classes which also hinders the active form of teaching and learning. There is also a need to realise that there are several teaching and learning styles that one could use to gain same learning skills that are again ignored unconsciously. Each and every learning activity has a different processes that could initiate the active form of learning within the brain even though they are regarded as active or passive learning in the real world. Teachers also have to realise that there are some students who prefer to learn through a passive style of learning as opposed to an active style of learning which may hinder them in a number of ways. Context: I have been teaching in a comprehensive girls school where 70% of the students are from an Minority Ethnic Background. The school accommodates over 1000 students with over 100 teachers from diverse back grounds. I was initially covering for a member of staff, when the position became vacant and I applied and was appointed to the post. The problem arose when I began teaching MFL as there had been a tendency of learning through passive teaching over a number of years. The behaviour in general of the pupils was good with some odd occasions of bad behaviour. There was a mix tenedency and attitude towards innovation and active learning by the students and the language faculty. The majority of my students were from an ethnic background, learning to improve their Urdu language. The major problem students faced was in relation to reading and writing skills because of the alien nature of the writing style of Urdu language. The students speaking and listening skills were very good due to their social environment and the electronic media around them. There is a huge difference between two sets of skills and it is very hard to correlate most of the time. There were students who were forced to learn Urdu by either parents or their peers and were there without any love or passion for the subject. Also the students were not willing to accept the new changes such as the new teacher, teaching style and the presence of opposite gender within their classes. There was a change within the school at management level and was a move towards a change in teaching methodology and assessment. The higher management was trying to implement the OFSTED lesson observation criteria throughout the school. The behaviour management system also went under changes and some staff members had problems in understanding and implementing them within the classes. Alongside these factors there was a huge task of assessing the pupils within all the four essential skills within MFL (Listening, speaking, reading and writing). I had few lesson observations that did not go well because of the behaviour problem and by being defensive as I was teaching more passively than active. I had implemented various strategies within the class of which some worked very well and some of them were disaster. One of them was the introduction of the active form of learning and teaching upon which some classes appreciated the new strategies and techniques where as some gave an insight of the problem that could arise when introducing the active form of learning and teaching within the classes. Analysis of Problem: Active learning is probably more striking for learners than passive forms of leaning. Learners are supposed to be more motivated and interested when their mental activity is challenged and when they can make decisions about their own learning. The retention capabilities are also greater in case of active learning as compared to passive learning as per figure 1.By being involved in some of the decisions related to their own learning the learners can connect to their prior knowledge and their needs more optimally. As a consequence, they will learn all the kinds of valuable skills, such as social skills, decision making skills and taking responsibility. In addition, by finding out things independently, they can follow their own interests and motivation. In reality, active learning is the measurement of the extent to which the learner is challenged to use his or her mental abilities while learning. The passive learner does the same in less content as passive learning is mainly involved in the initial phases where as active learning enhances the passive learning. There are various types of learning skills that could structure the focus of process-oriented instruction such as cognitive skills, meta-cognitive skills and affective-motivational skills. (Simon et al, 2000). The cognitive skills involve deep learning strategies like comparing, overview skills like summarising, criticising and structuring, reviewing and generalising, schematising, and transfer skills like considering potential and essential conditions of use. Meta-cognitive skills involve planning of times and planning for leaning, realistic goal setting, orientation on goals and outcomes, regular inspection and testing and finally restarting and reflection on process and outcome. There are two main types of communication which occurs within the class named one way and two way communications. Within One-way communication, Listener has little or no opportunity to respond straight away and directly. A teacher must make assumptions about the listeners skill level, prior training, and understanding of the material being communicated. Therefore, errors like the following could be made by the teacher: making the material too difficult, making the material too simple, making assumptions which are not fully shared by the audience, thus making it impossible for them to understand what is being said. Other characteristics: faster transmission less accuracy, potential lack of common vocabulary. Within Two-way communication, there is a flow of information among and between individuals. Because of the opportunity for immediate feedback, many of the assumptions that one makes under one-way communication about skill level, prior training, and understanding of the material being communicated get tested immediately. Other characteristics: slower transmission, greater accuracy, time to develop a common vocabulary. According to Bergquist et al (1975), Psychological effects of one-way communication on students. Frustration the student cannot easily communicate or ask for clarification of teacher information. Apathy a lack of involvement and interest in what is going on. Fear students dont want to talk in front of the group for fear of being put down or for fear of making the teacher angry. Dependence students expect the teacher to give all the necessary information. Most become unable to judge the value of the information. Hostility and/or aggression-they may cheat or quit coming to class Three other learning styles are more likely to result in classroom participation; they are: Collaborative: This style is typical of the student who feels he can learn the most by sharing his ideas and talents. He cooperates with teachers and peers and likes to work with others. He sees the classroom as a place for social interaction as well as content learning. Participant: This style is characteristic of the student who wants to learn subject content and likes to go to class. He takes responsibility for getting the most out of class and participates with others when told to do so. He feels that he should take part in as much of the class related activity as possible, but he does little that is not part of the subject outline. Independent: This response style is characteristic of the student who likes to think for himself. He prefers to work on his own, but he will listen to the ideas of others in the classroom. He learns the content he feels is important and is confident in his learning abilities Research shows that students do not have just one style but that instead they have several in varying degrees and in various situations. It is not necessary to have a battery of psychological instruments to assess these styles, since an awareness of your students behaviours will give you clues as to which ones are operating. A more formal way of obtaining this information is to give each student the description of the various learning styles (without the descriptive word) and ask them to rank the styles on a scale of most and least like them. A tabulation of that information may give you useful information about the predominate learning styles in your classroom. (Bergquist et al, 1975) Students exhibit a number of learning styles in their approach to the classroom. Three that are related to a lack of involvement are: Avoidant: This response style is typical of a student who is not interested in learning subject content in the traditional classroom. He does not participate with students and teachers in the classroom. He is uninterested or overwhelmed by what goes on in the classes. Competitive: This response style is exhibited by the student who learns material in order to perform better than others in the class. He feels he must compete with other students in the class for the rewards of the classroom, such as grades or teachers attention. He views the classroom as a win-lose situation where he must always win. Other students are unlikely to join this student in participation because of the win- lose nature of the interaction. Dependent: This style is characteristic of the student who shows little intellectual curiosity and who learns only what is required. He sees teachers and peers as sources of structure and support. He looks to authority figures for guidelines and wants to be told what to do. Consequently, this student is unlikely to initiate or have much that is original to say in class discussions Analysis of Intervention (Solution): Learning to collaborate and learning from collaboration means acquiring skills like dividing tasks between group members, leading a group, learning together, monitoring group progress, defining group goals and group learning goals, negotiating and co-structuring knowledge, coordinating cognitive and social communicative actions and creating a supportive collaborative climate (Simon et al, 2000). Another important factor is the ability to regulate own learning which is the regular increase of independence in thinking and learning through systematic scaffolding. Simons and Zuijlen (1995) have suggested the following sequence: working independently, Learning strategically and self directed learning. When working independently the learning goals, the learning strategies, the time and place of leaning, the way of testing and feedback is determined by the teacher or learning environment. Students just have to fulfil assignments and learning will occur if and when they obey. (Simon et al, 2000) When learning strategically, students should have freedom of choice related to the learning strategy such as what kinds of learning approach to take, when and where learning will take place. In self-directed learning students have more freedom even though the learning goals remain under teacher control and for example with respect to choice goals, self testing and or feedback/judgement procedures. As described by the Simon et al (1995), In the beginning stages of any learning the simpler forms of independence should occupy more time than the more complex ones with a gradual increase of time for more complex forms. Whereas more complex forms of independence can regulate and only be practiced with respect to themes where one has relative high level of expertise. Simply there should be more independent work with some strategic learning relating to topics at beginning stages which will provide more room for strategic learning, also in relation to less familiar topics and some room for self directed learning about familiar topics. More importantly, by demonstrating and discussing them with each other on a regular basis, the important thinking, learning and regulation skills are made public. One of the main obstacles to learning and think is that these processes are hidden and remain invisible (new learning ref), the students dont realise that all human beings have many different ways to approach tasks instead of believing their way is the only possible way for learning new things. Interventions aimed at fostering students development of active general self regulated learning and conditional or metacognitive knowledge about learning have involved specifically designed learning how to learn programs as well as integrated programs where learning how to learn is embedded within regular discipline instruction. Simpson et al, (1997) especially mention the problems of limited transfer of the learned strategies to new situations and the lack of long term evaluation data. One well know successful program of that kind emphasise integrated learning to think, integrated learning to learn and integrated learning to regulate learning and thinking (Simons et al, 1997). In integrated programme, students are induced to activate their existing knowledge and strategies about learning, to reflect on their own and alternative approaches to learning, and on the impact of different learning styles on the quality of learning outcomes in their particular discipline area as well as in general. A major advantage of integrated programme is that they can be implemented with, and benefit learners of all ages, all levels of development and across all fields of study. Cognitive interventions during regular instructions rely on reflection, persuasion, awareness raising as well as constructive frictions (Vermunt Verloop, 1999) in order to raise challenge students possible misconception about learning. Carrying out such interventions during the actual process of learning is particularly well suited to raise students awareness of the relationships between learning strategies and learning outcomes. Evaluation (analysis of findings/evaluation of impact): Active learning is defined as a form of learning in which the learner uses opportunities to decide about aspects of learning process or the extent to which the learner is challenged to use his or her mental abilities while learning. In reality, there is no clear difference between active and passive learning. It is more a dimension a matter of less and more than dichotomy. In other words in active learning the learners make their own time planning, they choose learning goals and activities they like, they test their progress, they take care of their learning and understanding on their own, and they reflect on errors and successes. Thus active learning also involves preparation, execution, regulation, control, feedback and maintenance of learning activities by learners. (Simon et al, 2000) In independent active learning, it is not so much the number and quality of decisions about learning that count but how much activity is asked from the learner. Are the students figuring out things on their own? Are they working without teacher supervision? Are they working together as a group? Are they thinking while learning? The goals and kinds of activities, the control and regulations as well as the feedback and maintenance of the learning are under teacher control. The major findings after the research show the same findings as Riemersma Veugelers, 1997; Van Hout-Wolters, 1994; Veugelers, 1999 (cited in Simons et al, 2000) have identified a number of factors contributing to the difficulties in the implementation of active forms of learning. School Management and organisation: Some schools provide very few opportunities for active learning to students because of too many traditional teacher directed classes and insufficient self study hours in their time table. School experience problems with changing the curriculum to fit in with the learning-to-learn lessons or with integrating learning to learn instructions in the content lessons. Teachers: Many teachers are not highly motivated to give attention to active learning as they do not see the benefits of it within the subject matter and argue that these activities take up too much valuable time. Other teachers want to concentrate all their attention on the instruction of content knowledge as otherwise it will affect their results or grades. This results in creating chaos amongst the students relating various new forms of teaching and learning. The use of active learning within the class makes teaching more intensive and time consuming, while teacher salaries remain the same. Also not all the teachers possess sufficient knowledge and skills to foster active learning and to supervise their students in active self directed learning. Most teachers would need to develop forms of instruction which are fundamentally different from those they are currently using and familiar with. Particularly the greatest barrier of all is the fact that faculty members efforts to employ active learning involve risk that students will not participate, learn sufficient content or use higher-order thinking. There is also a misconception or fears that faculty members will feel a loss of control, lack necessary skills, or be criticised for teaching in unconventional ways. However, each barrier or obstacle and type of risk can be successfully overcome through thoughtful and careful planning. Learners are not always motivated to invest much time and energy in gaining the new skills either. They do not always recognise the usefulness of these skills, or they dread the needed effort to learn them (Rabinowits , Freeman, Cohen, 1992, (cited in Simons et al, 2000)). Students often hold strong beliefs and persistent approaches to learning especially failure fearing students prefer to learn a whole paragraph by heart than to understand and remember the main issues. Students in especially secondary schools are not very interested in the subject matter instead they go to school to meet their friends; learning seems to be more or less a side issue. Such students prefer to follow teacher directed lessons, than to engage in self directed activities. Individual differences between students create problems such as attention seeking students who attract more attention as well as causing disruption. Some students get little teacher attention during individual study hours as they ask ver y few questions and thus are offered little supervision. A failure to periodically solicit student feedback in a subject about how it is progressing. Are students getting out of the subject what they want? Are the classroom procedures and methods used well? Are there some things that you are doing which students dont like (for example, lecture, clarity of presentations, unfriendly manner)? Information on these factors not only helps make the classroom atmosphere better but it also creates an atmosphere where students feel the teacher is interested in what they have to say. This has a tendency to transfer into content areas as well. Contents: There are specific learning skills which are considered most important by a school or teacher. There still appears to be a lack of good learning-material within the subject areas in which active learning is incorporated. Snow and Lohmans (1984) argument that direct training of content related cognitive strategies may be counterproductive for more able students because they have already developed effective models of learning. Therefore students were provided with opportunities to witness the mental activity of more able individuals, and then encouraged to practice the strategies with guidance in a socially supportive environment. While some students learn to self regulate their learning without much tuition or prompts, others need guidance, not only to acquire the strategies but also to develop the conditional knowledge necessary to know how, when and where to these strategies can be applied appropriately (Hattie, Biggs, Purdie, 1996; Winograd Hare, 1988, (cited in Simons et al, 2000)). There are several techniques or strategies that are regarded as Passive learning strategies used for the externalisation of mental activity such as think aloud and expert modelling that provide a learner unique insight into the thinking processes of an expert. While scaffolding, cognitive coaching, reciprocal teaching and other forms of guided learning are expected to provide the support necessary to develop the skills and confidence for independent use of techniques. Two popular strategies based on problem-solving model take account of the case study methods of instruction and guided design. Whereas other active learning pedagogies worthy of teachers use include debates, cooperative learning, role playing, drama,simmulation, and peer teaching. College teachers are commonly facing problems and complaining that the secondary school teachers are not playing their roles properly as they are wasting their time in games or activities rather than giving attention to reading or improving cognitive skills. Where schools and parents fail students at school, when they get to college they lack the capacity to concentrate on anything for longer than about 10 minutes at a time. Such students have been failed by their schools and teachers, its too late, as in many cases, for them to change and their chances of a decent education/job are already finished. Conclusions and Recommendations: Active learning is also important for teachers. Motivational and burnout problems of teachers are likely to decrease if students are more motivated and more actively engaged in their own learning. Besides, teaching becomes more intellectually challenging when students are learning actively and independently. An excellent first step in promoting active teaching and learning is to select strategies with that one can feel comfortable. Low-risk strategies, on the other hand, are structured and planned, naturally of short duration, focused on subject matter that is neither too abstract nor too controversial, and well-known to both the students and the faculty members. The modification of traditional lectures (Penner 1984) is one way to incorporate active learning in the classroom. Discussion in class is regarded as one of the most widespread strategies promoting active learning with good reason. If the objectives of a subject are to encourage long-term retention of information, to inspire students toward further learning, to allow students to apply information in new settings, or to develop students thinking skills, then discussion is preferable to lecture (McKeachie et al. 1986). Bergquist et al (1975) have described the following factors within Getting Students Involved in the Classroom. Encourage exclusive dialogue with the teacher and not between students. This fosters a lack of involvement since students must compete with each other for the kings ear. Front to back seating arrangements encourage one-way communication. It is hard to talk to the back of someone elses head. Front to back seating arrangements discourage students from talking among themselves but they do focus attention on the teacher . Students who feel pressurised into attending every session are less likely to want to participate. An overemphasis on grades and grading, constantly stressing the importance of material for the midterm or final, how important a good grade in your subject is, and how much you appreciate good students will lead to a lack of involvement. Students are less likely to be involved when the name of the game is to get a grade and not learning something that might be of value to them. If active self regulated learning is to increase in school, at university and in the workplace, there is a need for learners to be equipped with the skills, confidence and commitment for active learning across tasks and situations. It also requires the educational context to provide the opportunities and affordance for active and independent self regulated learning to take place and be valued. All of the above help create an atmosphere where students do not want to get involved (The non-involvement cycle). Consequently, they begin to behave that way, which leads the teacher to assume they are apathetic and uninterested, thus the teacher continues to treat them in ways that lead to more apathy and uninvolvement. Thus a self-fulfilling prophecy begins to emerge. Even though active learning provides a great benefit within the teaching and learning arena the question still remains whether the students at secondary school are ready for this change. Research completed with higher level students indicated that when the learning skills and behaviour reached a mature state the majority of the students were there to learn. Whereas at secondary schools, there are several issues that require attention at a higher level such as behaviour issues within schools and classes, teachers training, teachers right with in the classes, more freedom with the curriculum, specially designed curriculum to promote active teaching and learning including others. In a recent article in the Guardian news paper, Mortimore, P (2010) reiterates that teachers are the solution not the problem. This means the profession attracting, and keeping, the most talented and the best-motivated people. It also means the government allowing teachers reasonable autonomy in how they teach. If the officials address the following issues, there will possibility of promoting active learning at the secondary level.

Belonging Relate Text Essay

If you didn’t repeat year11 you have to do the same thing as I’m doing right now, which is a letter about the area of study – belonging. Probably you are enjoying year11 while I am suffering year12; I have tons of assignments due next few weeks. I’m writing this letter to you because I know you would ask me for all the year12 assessments at the end of the year also this will help you with the topic, identity which is part of belonging. First I will give you an idea of what belonging is. Belonging is a sense of comfort and contentment when an individual gains an understanding of themselves in relation to others. However when individual is excluded from a group or community is call alienation and rejection. It is important for one to belong; it can prevent alienation and isolation which can lead to severe emotional and psychological problem. From texts a responder may experience and understand the possibilities presented by a sense of belonging to or exclusion from the text and the world it represents. From different points of view the perception might be different. For example some of the students belong outside of school because of their classmates may be isolating or bully them. Whereas the teacher thinks they should belong to school, community and study for the HSC. I have chosen three different types of related texts for this Assessment task [Area of Study – Belonging] : the advertisement â€Å"how easy is it to forget† produced by BERNAS depicts a typical Chinese family and how the individuals belong within the family. The film â€Å"Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein† directed by Kenneth Branagh examines rejection and alienation of Victor’s creature from society due its shocking appearance; similarly the picture book â€Å"Refugees† by David Miller uses ducks to represent the experience of refugees who have been alienated from a place. In the advertisement â€Å"How easy is it to forget†, Bernas shows how one’s perception of their family can be modified over time by the shared experiences and barriers which they have fought to overcome as a group, enriching and strengthening the connection between members such as the father and son. The advertisement is about the son disobeying his Chinese tradition and ending up in a flight with his father resulting in him leaving home. Although he became paraplegic due to an accident at work; but his father helped and taught him how to walk when he was helpless and he returned to his family with a stronger bond than before. The advertisement is to gain support for less fortunate families and people. An individual’s sense of belonging is influenced by their choices and actions. At the beginning scene the son is leaving his family with his mother crying behind him trying to persuade him not to leave. Belonging to a group is a choice we make and the son clearly makes a decision to leave the family, which shows the barrier he creates between his family. In the flash back illustrate the event that lead to what happened at the opening scene. The son displays no interest in the family traditions and conveys no respect towards the father as shown by the father’s disapproving facial expression. During the dinner the son eats first rather than his father, in Chinese culture that elders eat first is to show respect. Another example is when the son changes the channel that his father was watching, the disconnection between the father and the son has been represented through the use of facial expressions and attitudes displayed by father and son. This is achieved by the camera alternating with a close up from the son and the father’s disapproving facial expression. This disconnection creates a barrier between them caused by the son’s decision and actions. The breakdown of their relationship has been symbolized by the shattering of the bowl of rice. In Chinese culture a meal is where a family connects and deepens the mutual understanding with each other, strengthening the bond within the family. â€Å"You might as well not come home!† shows how the son’s choices have pushed these bonds and created conflicts within this family, furthermore it creates greater barriers for them to overcome. However overcoming these barriers to belonging can enrich one’s sense of belonging because they gain an understanding of themselves in their family. The need to belong to a group or a community shapes our behavior, attitudes and actions. After the son left his family he suffered a devastating accident at work which leaves him unable to use both legs. In hospital he isolates himself and rejects all offers of help from his family. Although the son had broken the bonds between them, his father stood outside of his room crying because he assumed responsibility for his son suffering. His father chooses to help his son recover physically and moreover importantly mentally. It shows in the next scene with the father carrying his son on this back, trying to move his legs and teach him how to walk again! A flash back was used to contrast when the son was young and his father was teaching him how to walk which shows no matter how bad the family’s bond may be broken, it can be mended. In the final scene it shows the son can walk again at dinner time; a flash back was used to show his father helping him to walk at morning and night. This shows the bond between him and his family has been recovered or are even stronger. The recurring motif at the meal is used throughout the advertisement to encapsulate the bonds and relationship between the son and his family no matter how much the bond between family members have been shattered, it will always repair depending on the family members’ attitudes, decisions and actions. The first text was interesting, isn’t it? The second text is the film â€Å"Mary’s Shelly Frankenstein† directed by Kenneth Branagh. It is based on an adaptation of Mary’s novel â€Å"Frankenstein† written in 1815 and published in London in 1818. It is based on a science friction story about Victor Frankenstein created a creature with no identity; due to his shocking appearance which creates barriers to belong. The creature turned evil by rejection of society and he started to take revenge on his father Victor Frankenstein’s family. In this film several aspects of belonging have been conveyed, a sense of not belonging can emerge from the disconnections made with people, places or the world. The creature Victor Frankenstein created him and does not know how to walk, eat, talk, etc; Victor tries to help the creature in the first place because he thought he had successfully finished the experiment of creating a new life. When Victor saw the creature appearance is different to human, he was scared, surprised and realized with horror that he had done something wrong against human nature. This is demonstrated by a close up to show his facial expression and the dramatic music. The disconnection has been conveyed by Victor trying to escape from the lab leaving the creature behind and taking no responsibly for what he had created. This is an important scene because it leads to the creature being rejected and isolated from human societies. This disconnection influenced him to find his new identity and where to belong. To truly belong to can take a lifetime and can often never be achieved, but to become isolated or alienated is often easy. The next scene started with the creature covering his head to hide his appearance from people, the director used high angle shot to show the people are buying and selling in the street while the creature is trying to steal food from the shop. This shows the creature wanted to belong to the human society and desired the human’s acceptance. However his hideous appearance was revealed when he got caught stealing, and rejected him and chased him away. The director used low angle shot when the people gather around the creature, which shows the creature was way more powerful physically than humans. Medium shot was also used to show the human’s emotion when a human attacked the creature and in his rage he threw the human to the wall. This horrified the people and became the catalyst of human rejection from the creature. The creature has being rejected and alienated from society which creates more barriers for him. An individual not accepted by society can result in a change of the individual’s actions and decisions which can be devastating for all concerned. This is what happened to victor’s creature. One’s identity is the key to belonging anywhere. The creature continued to find his identity, he learnt who and how he was created and then deserted, and moreover he started to take revenge on Victor because he didn’t belong to the world. In the ice cave scene the creature had a conversation with Victor, which shows the creature had intelligence and emotions. The director use of a low angle shot shows the power of the creature and his superiority. The creature struggles to find his identity which is conveyed by the dialogue â€Å"Who am I?† During the conversation, the music changed to dramatic music emphasizing that barriers to belonging can change a good person to evil; it is shown by â€Å"Two people are dead now, because of us.† The close up between the creature and Victor to show their emotion which conveys how serious the problem of belonging is and the importance of having an identity. At the end of the film; when Victor dies the creature burnt himself next to Victor’s dead body. He knew that he had no future, â€Å"Who are you?† the captain asked, â€Å"He never gave me a name†, the creature replied. Without belonging life is meaningless, although the creature’s searching to belong and to be accepted by society. The barriers causing his isolation and alienation are too great to overcome, ending a dying with his father Victor. This conveys a sense of belonging comes from a sense of identity. The third text is a picture book Refugees by David Miller. The text illustrates the adventure of pair of wild ducks whose habitat has been destroyed when their swamp is dug up and they have to find a safe place to live. The difficult and dangerous journey they undertake seems futile. As they try they were unable to settle in various different environments. These locations included the ocean, busy river port and a swap/hunting ground. They are close to exhaustion when the intervention of an unknown person changes their fate. This text explores the idea that the process of migration can be a discriminatory experience, alienating, confusing and leading to the search for acceptance and sense of belonging. This text is an example of an allegory, a story on two levels. The ducks represent human immigrants and the problems they face. The process of migration is disorientating when the homes of two ducks are destroyed by machinery and they must migrate to find a new home. This is shown in â€Å"Now the swamp and island were gone forever. The ducks would have to find another place to live.† A lack of belonging felt by an individual can be caused by difficulties such as environment, government etc. This leads an individual to embark on a journey in search for a sense of belonging or acceptance from new environment. The environment is harsh, difficult and dangerous during the migrations. This is depicted by the visual techniques used by the illustrator where the swamp at the beginning is blue and green colours representing safety and calmness. On the other hand next few pages show the colour is black and from the text â€Å"find food and a safe place to sleep† shows the dangerous and frustration during migrating. Risks and challenges have been faced by the ducks during their search for acceptance, â€Å"At last, very tired, they came to the sea. But the waves were frightening, the water was salty, and they couldn’t find any food† (what is the effect). Rejection and alienation also experienced by the ducks are depicted by the picture of two ducks forced to swim into the waves with the seagulls giving them aggressive looks. It shows the difficulty of acceptance from others. The illustrator used a boat to demonstrate the trip of their journey and with a wall beside it which symbolized obstructs during migrating. Although the connection or relation between both of these ducks is strong, they belong to each other no matter where they are illustrated through â€Å"Two tired little ducks slept on a small, bobbing boat.† The desire to belong is shown by the two ducks when they try to find a place that accepts them is shown by using repetition of the word â€Å"flew†. The alienation and rejection is not only shown by other animals, these two ducks also experience alienation from humans shown by the use of visual techniques employed by the illustrator, it shows how the two ducks are powerless in the emptiness of the sky with humans shooting at them and the text â€Å"Hidden hunters fired cruel guns.† At the end humans reach out hands to help them to find a place where they can belong and the two ducks find a new place with this help and adapt to a new home which they have finding and longing for. It is convey through the text â€Å"At last they were set free on a lake where tall reeds rustled, frogs croaked, clouds of insects buzzed and swallows flitted restlessly over the clear water.† Similar colour as the first page where their old home was has been used to convey belonging to a place can make you safe and comfort. All these techniques used to demonstrate the process of immigration and convey the search for acceptance and sense of belonging. In conclusion belonging is a sense of comfort and contentment when an individual gains an understanding of in relation to family, groups and community. However sense of not belonging is an exclusion and rejection from groups or society. Without belonging life is meaningless thus people continue to search a place to belong even they were alienated. An immigrant like me and you had experienced exclusion and rejection because of our lack of communication skill and different cultural in a new country. But at the end we found a place where we belong to and the acceptance by other people as a new immigrant. These problems were faced in â€Å"Refugees† which is an extended metaphor of the two ducks that had experienced after leaving home and being a new immigrant. There are the three texts I have chosen, I hope you get an idea of what I did there and hope you can improve your shifty reading skill. You can send me your copy if you pass year 11 this year.

What Everybody Dislikes About Fun Research Essay Topics and Why

What Everybody Dislikes About Fun Research Essay Topics and Why To get you started, we've prepared a comprehensive collection of 100 topics to have you thinking. There are occasions when you're assigned with the topic but more frequently, you will need to create a topic on your own. Quite frequently, the ideal topic is one which you truly care about, but you also will need to get well prepared to research it. Fun research topics might even grow to be a means for them to discover that writing is a skill they are in fact great at. The audience should understand and make a mental picture of this issue or message immediately. At any time you catch yourself feeling captivated by an individu essay or article, take a close look at it. So without further ado, below are some effective writing tips to create your common app essay stick out! Locating good essay topics which you could discuss effectively and create powerful argumentative essays is a difficult work. You have to be certain to understand everything clearly once you go for an essay topic. Argumentative essay topics are so important since they are debatableand it's critical to at all times be critically contemplating the world around us. Moral argumentative essay topics are a few of the simplest to get carried away with. Fun Research Essay Topics Options Writing research paper is a considerable portion of a student life, which might seem very challenging endeavor. Research writing will continue being part of their typical learning curriculum, and it's something they must succeed. Technology may sometimes fail you. As you start writing your research paper, you can run into the should revise your top research paper topics. As soon as you have that narrowed down, you can concentrate your research and compose a remarkable paper. Fun research paper topic s are available ubiquitously. Choosing topics for research papers can take some moment, and here are a couple of ways to help you select the one which is just perfect. Make using the suggested research paper topic ideas and you'll be prosperous. Now you have a great idea of the way to hunt for college research paper topics, you're ready for some suggestions. Argumentative research paper topics are a ton a lot easier to find than to produce. Recent argumentative essay topics that are related to society is going to do. What all you will need is getting the assistance from a specialist and EssaysChief is going to be the expert that you seek out. You are likely to love our work. You want a topic that has a lot of available material for you to use. When it has to do with choosing topics for a research paper there are many alternatives to pick from and you need something that's unique while having the ability to write well-defined details. The 30-Second Trick for Fun Research Essay Topics Bear in mind you may make funny argumentative essays if you do a few things. Write about things you're passionate about. Facts, ultimately, will always win ou t against how folks are feeling at a specific moment. When you're picking your topic, remember that it's much simpler to write about something which you presently have interest ineven in case you don't know a great deal about it. Fun Research Essay Topics In this kind of situation, it's more convenient to discover ready-made essays and use them as an example. There are many steps which you should take as a way to write a fantastic essay. It's important to select debatable argumentative essay topics as you need opposing points that you are able to counter to your own points. The key to pick a very good topic for an argumentative essay is to select a subject where there's a lot of debates on topics or stances. Finding the most suitable arguments can help you prove your point and win. When you are finished with your essay, you must not simply check it for spelling and grammatical errors, but nevertheless, it also has to be checked for logical fallacies. Instead of just immediately writing about your argumentative essay topic, you first have to think about what it is that you're likely to put back on your paper through a procedure of brainstorming and pre-writing. You may continue to keep your argumentative essays for your upcoming job portfolio in case they're highly graded. If you are searching for examples of argumentative essays, here's a sample that will help you out! To begin with, local newspaper papers might be very good place to discover interesting argumentative essay topics.

One Discourse Community - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1162 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/05/21 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Discourse Community Essay Did you like this example? In a modern and technologically advanced era, individuals rely heavily on discourse communities to inform them of current trending issues. One discourse community that some 360 million people worldwide have come to partake in is Twitter. Through this app, users can interact with other users through tweeting about topics or issues. By allowing users to access global news, presenting a platform for discussion,giving politicians an updated platform, and allowing youth to become informed and have a voice, twitter has become an effective method of communication. Through allowing users to access global sources of news, twitter has become an important means of conversation. In 2014, the kidnapping of Chibok schoolgirls in Nigeria by Boko Haram became a global issue after the hashtag Bring Back Our Girls was tweeted about millions of times by individuals from all over the world (Wiser and Thomson). This lead to celebrities such as Beyonce, and activists and political figures such as Michelle Obama and Malala Yousafzai becoming aware of the issue and creating campaigns to help fund the search for the missing girls( Thomson and Shearlaw). Moreover, the popularity of the hashtag urged world forces such as the UN to seek more information about the subject matter . World activists and figures utilized Twitterrs platform as a discourse community to not only express their support, but raise awareness about the issue of the kidnapped school girls. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "One Discourse Community" essay for you Create order As a result, world leaders became aware of the issue and were able to help negotiate with Boko Haramrs regime to attempt to bring back the missing girls. Additionally, during the summer of 2014, Twitter users trended the hashtag ALSIcebucket challenge to support ALS and raise money for charity. The charity ultimately raised over $41.8 million dollars and gained over 730,000 new donors all over the world, with every one out of six people participating in the challenge in the UK (Hitchings-Hales and Calderwood). Through exploiting Twitterrs large population the charity and all of its participants were able to further their mission and goal and reach individuals worldwide who benefitted or could support the mission.By allowing for users worldwide to communicate with others, Twitter has become an effective discourse community in the course of the world. By presenting a platform for everyday citizens to convene, twitter has created a larger space for individuals to discuss current issues and make a difference. In terms of the Black Lives Matter movement, many young African-American youth flocked to Twitter to discuss angry sentiments about the constant shooting of unarmed black men. According to the Pew Research Center, the #Ferguson tag dealing with the shooting of Michael Brown was the top used hashtag in the ten year history of the platform, while the hashtag Black Lives Matter followed in third (Anderson and Hitlin).These tags allowed for the Twitter community to band together and generate a larger discussion over the impact of the shootings and what steps could be taken to rectify them. Such conversations allowed young activists to organize protests as well as create campaigns to help the family members of the victims while garnering a greater understanding amongst people in the country of these fatal shootings. Additionally, in recent news, Twitter has given women a platform to speak out about sexual assault with the MeToo movement. With over 1.7 million tweets, the MeToo hashtag provided a safe space for women all over the world to discuss their experiences amongst other survivors of sexual assault and encourage each other to speak out against their abusers (Codrea-Rado and Park ). With the assistance of Twitter, movements such as these have allowed the marginalized to have a voice in their oppression, and given them a location to discuss their sentiments. Through creating an open space platform where users of like mind can rally together, Twitter has created an avenue for progressive conversation. As a consequence of its role as a large discourse community, Twitter has been able to give politicianrs an updated platform. As seen within the 2016 presidential election, politicians utilized Twitter to bring up important issues to their campaign. According to CIO, many politicians took to Twitter to take advantage of its real-time nature and ability to not only express their political views, but allow themselves to seem more human like rather than machine (Kapko). Within the election cycle 27% of presidential candidate Hillary Clintonrs tweets focused on her policy issues while over 794 tweets were sent in the month of June alone by both Clinton and Trump arguing over issues and attempting to illustrate themselves as a desirable candidate for president ( Evans, Brown, and Wimberly). Due to its large community, Twitter has become a hotspot for politicians to extend their platform and attempt to reach more people. Twitterrs dual role as a discourse community and social media platform has given adolescents a chance to become informed and have a voice. In the presidential election of 2016, many youth exploited Twitterrs large community of youth to encourage voting within their demographic. During this election over 35 percent of individuals between the ages of 18-29 said that social media was the ?most helpful source to learn more information about the 2016 election (Curry). Through this resource, young people were able to better understand the issues in discussion during the election. Additionally, as a result of employing Twitter as a platform to inform about politics more youth became informed about the nature of the election and the presidential candidates. Moreover, the net neutrality bill of 2017 sparked a greater discussion amidst young people to speak up about issues that affect them. As adolescence became informed about the possible repeal of the net neutrality act by Congress, many began to speak up and speak out through organizing protests as well as creating campaigns in the hopes of their pleas to keep the bill reaching Congress. Ultimately, over 124,473,847 impressions were made on Twitter concerning the save net neutrality tag, as a result of young people speaking out about the issue (Gallagher). The act of a large amount of youth discussing the issue garnered a better awareness of the topic and allowed youth to speak up and out. Within the presidential election of 2016 as well as the net neutrality issue of 2017, young people were able to become informed and speak about issues that greatly impacted them. By Twitter offering such a large discourse community, adolescence have and will continue to be able to become informed abo ut current affairs. More than a social media app, Twitter has become a dominant avenue for individuals from all areas of life to convene an discuss important issues impacting our world. Twitter has proved itself an effective discourse community through granting an avenue for international news to be recognized, offering a platform for users to confer, allowing politicians to draft a new platform, and giving youth the opportunity to stand up and speak out. By giving a powerful connotation to the voices of those who seek to be heard, Twitter accomplishes what few other discussion communities have; Allowing individuals from all walks of life to be heard equally.