How does William Blake use symbolism to comment on society in Songs of Experience Free Essays

string(86) " creator of the lamb and he compares the lambs’ characteristics to its creator\." William Blake was a revolutionary philosopher and a poet who felt compelled to write about the injustice of the eighteenth century. Blake was a social critic of the Romantic Period, yet his criticism is still relevant to today’s society. Blake encountered many hardships in his life, including an arrest for making slanderous statements about the king and country. We will write a custom essay sample on How does William Blake use symbolism to comment on society in Songs of Experience? or any similar topic only for you Order Now All of the events that Blake endured in his life had a great influence on his writing. When Blake wrote the Songs of Innocence, his vision of his audience might have been a little blurred. The audience that Blake’s writings were influenced by what were wealthy â€Å"soul murderers†, who bought young children from their poor parents for the purpose of enslaving them. They forced young children to perform jobs that were inapt and dangerous for humans to implement. An audience, therefore, have to take into consideration the mental state of the speaker created by Blake. In William Blake’s â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† in Songs of Experience. The story is told by a little boy. In this particular poem, the speaker is â€Å"a little black thing among the snow†. The little boy is black because he is covered in soot from the chimney that he is forced to clean, but how are readers to know this unless we are familiar with the term â€Å"Innocence†? Later in this poem of â€Å"Experience† the little boy talks about smiling â€Å"among the winter’s snow†, giving the reader the impression of a white, snow-capped environment. The image we get from reading â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† in Songs of Experience is that of a small, lost and abandoned, maybe an African-American child lying in the snow crying because his parents went to the church to pray for what they want, which is not him. This image does is not precise to the thoughts of William Blake and what he is trying to put across, but this poem is in ‘Songs of Experience’, so Blake expects the reader to have read some of the poems in ‘Songs of Innocence’, and to understand that when he says a â€Å"little black thing†, he is not referring to the racial background of the child. And when he talks about â€Å"thy father and mother†, Blake is not referring to a happily married couple. He is implying that society, religion, and the government share responsibility in the persecution and destruction of children. The ironic thing about this, however, is that a reader who does not understand Blake’s intentions can still enjoy this poem. There are many types of irony that Blake uses in his writing. In â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper†, for example, the little boy cries, â€Å"And because I am happy, dance and sing†. It is somewhat obvious that Blake’s speaker is being cynical and says the opposite of what he actually wants us to believe. By reading the rest of the poem, it is easy to perceive that the senses of joy and happiness do not subsist in the boy’s life. The main themes of Blake’s poem â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† deal with four general areas of human existence: the nature of humanity, the nature of society, the nature of human-kind’s relationship with the world, and the nature of our ethical responsibilities. Blake wrote â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper†, with the intentions to proclaim his belief that everybody had a particular role in the community. The family one was born into determined what he or she would do for the rest of his/her life, no matter what aspirations or dreams he/she might have. This is the category the speaker of the poem falls into. He is a â€Å"Chimney Sweeper†. He was forced into this job without a choice, and so he says, â€Å"They think they have done me no injury†. Many people wonder, who are â€Å"they†? â€Å"They† are the same people who influenced Blake’s writing in the first place. In The Songs of Innocence, there is another poem called â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† which is a complete anonym to the poem analysed previously. Although the two poems are different, they are both constructed from the same viewpoints. One is presentable to immature readers because it has more characterization. Characterization is the author’s presentation and development of characters. To understand the characterization in The Songs of Experience, one has to be able to understand â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper† in The Songs of Innocence. The only characterization is that of the little boy and his disapproval of his life and his unhappiness. Though the poem is short, it would still do the speaker an injustice to say that his character is simple, especially when it is extremely prevalent that Blake’s attitude toward his speaker is supportive. When considering a particular idea, event, or even a setting of William Blake’s poems, it is imperative to notice his choice of words when he describes the little boy. He gives the reader the impression that maybe he himself was somewhat of a deprived child. Blake is not straightforward in expressing his stance, but it is clear what he implies from the emphasized manifestations that he creates when he talks about the little boy â€Å"Crying † ‘weep,’weep,† in notes of woe! † In the examination of this poem, innocence, faith, and lack of self-worth are the predominant themes of the poem. By studying these themes, a very accurate picture of the speaker and learning about innocence and experience is gained. Unlike other poems, which illustrate innocence as something to be treasured, this poem illustrates a sad innocence that is better grown out of. In William Blake’s songs of Innocence and Experience, the gentle Lamb and the fierce Tiger contrasts between the innocence of youth and the experience of age. Blake makes it clear that the poem ‘The Lamb’ point of view is from that of a child, when he says â€Å"I a child and thou a lamb. Whereas the poem ‘The Tyger’ was written from the perspective of a more experienced person who had seen all of the evil in the world. Blake questions the creator of the lamb and he compares the lambs’ characteristics to its creator. You read "How does William Blake use symbolism to comment on society in Songs of Experience?" in category "Papers" In ‘The Lamb,’ William Blake explains that God can be like a child, meek and innocent, â€Å"He is meek, and he is mild/ He became a little child. † When one thinks of a child they see someone who is meek, pure, and unclear of the world. So a child is like a lamb someone who stands for purity. In this poem Blake is explaining that God considered himself to be like a lamb, innocent and meek when he says, † He is called by thy name, / For he calls himself a Lamb†. A person would never know that God has different faces until one really comes to understand by their own ideas on a personal level who God is and what he is capable of doing. In ‘The Tyger,’ William Blake explains that there is more that meets the eye when one examines the creator and his creation, the tiger. All throughout the poem Blake questions the creator of the tiger to determine if the creator is demonic or godlike. Blake asks â€Å"Did he who made the Lamb make thee? † Blake questions whether the same person that created the gentle lamb could be capable of making such a vicious beast, the tiger? Blake has no answer for this question; it is left up to the reader to decide. Blake relates the tiger’s environment to one during the Industrial Revolution when he says, â€Å"What the hammer? What the chain? / In what furnace was thy brain? â€Å". This symbolizes what Blake’s childhood was like to him and how society treated different people. It asks God why he made evil people as well as good people in the world, why make a society that could so easily go corrupt and sinful? This is one of Blake’s trains of thought between the poems ‘The Tyger’ and ‘The Lamb’ The one thing that makes Blake’s work slightly different and more original is that most of his poems are centered around his faith in God. Blake was a man of creativity, one that was widely misunderstood by society. To make poems about the faces of God is truly wonderful to people who share his beliefs. He demonstrates to the world that as a writer he personally understands some of the faces of the God he believes in. In these faces of God, Blake made some fascinating revelations on what society was becoming to be. He related these revelations by subtly making comments, and remarking on the faults of society in most of his poems, mainly from ‘Songs of Experience. ‘ The foundation for a lot of Blake’s poems was society and the things he found appalling in it. For example, in his reflection of â€Å"London,† William Blake laments the poverty faced by the lower class of modern, industrialised London, and he can find no note of consolation or hope for their future. Blake uses this theme to dramatically depict the conditions in which the oppressed lower class is forced to live; he develops the theme through the use of sounds, symbolism, and an ironic twist of words in the last line that expresses Blake’s ultimate belief in the hopelessness of the situation. The poem is dominated by a rigid meter that mirrors the rigidity and the helpless situation of the lives of the poor and the oppressive class system. The first stanza begins with Blake describing someone who sounds most likely to be himself walking through the â€Å"charter’d† streets of the city near the â€Å"charter’d† Thames. Every aspect of the city has been sanctioned and organized by the ruling class for example, seeing expressions of weakness and woe on the faces of all the people he meets. The streets and the river make up a network that has been laid out and chartered by the wealthy class to control the poor. The poet walks among the poor, participating in the drudgery of their daily lives; he feels their misery as they endlessly struggle to survive as pawns of the class system of the harsh society. In the second stanza Blake describes how in every voice of every person he perceives their â€Å"mind-forg’d manacles. The people are trapped, prisoners of the rigid class system that has been â€Å"forg’d† in the minds of the elite class, whose members have taken measures to prevent their wealth from ever reaching the poverty-stricken horde. This and all later stanzas focus on the sounds that Blake hears, particularly the cries of the poor, as he walks through the city. The third stanza marks a change in tone to a more abstract, symbolic depiction of a â€Å"black’ning Church† being â€Å"appalled† by the â€Å"Chimney-sweeper’s cry,† and the sigh of a â€Å"hapless Soldier† running in â€Å"blood down Palace walls. The Church is depicted as being allied with the insensitive elite class: the pleas of the chimney-sweeper, who is blackened with the soot of oppression and doomed to die young of lung disease, are spurned by the Church-the supposed source of pity and relief to the suffering-and in the process the Church â€Å"blackens† itself. The institution has become hypocritical because, while it still preaches pity, it fails to offer any remedy to the oppression of the poor. The soldier, who should be a symbol of the strength and glory of England, is nothing more than another poverty-stricken human, and so the depiction of his sigh running in blood down palace walls symbolizes that the beauty and glory of England, the palace, is marred and made grotesque by the oppression of the soldier class. The fourth and final stanza returns to a slightly more concrete depiction of what â€Å"most thro’ midnight streets [he] hear[s]†: the â€Å"youthful Harlot’s curse† not only â€Å"blasts the new born infant’s tear,† but also â€Å"blights with plagues the Marriage hearse. The unusual, poignant combination of â€Å"marriage† with â€Å"hearse† brings the mood of hopelessness to a peak; as a result of sexually transmitted diseases, marriage and sex are now connected with death, not life. In â€Å"London† Blake’s walk itself is chartered and deliberate, and the rhythm of the poem is as oppressive and inactive as the class system whose oppression it describes. Each stanza is further organized by a rigid rhyming structure-the rhyming words at the end of each line end in many r’s, w’s, and some that bend the sound of the vowels and give the words a heavy, plaintive, woeful, tone. For example: â€Å"How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry/ Every black’ning Church appalls;/ And the hapless Soldier’s sigh/ Runs in blood down Palace walls. † Intermixed with these plaintive sounds are words with sharp consonants and short syllables that seem to convey Blake’s spite for the horrible unjust system currently in society, for example, â€Å"Every black’ning Church appalls† and † . . . blights with plagues the Marriage hearse. † Not only is Blake saddened by the London scene, he is angry and spiteful that the elite class maintains it in an organised way designed to retain the wealth for the wealthy. Therefore Blake’s ultimate purpose for the poem is to protest the organised, chartered system of keeping the poor in a hopeless struggle for survival. Blake wrote â€Å"London† two hundred years ago, to protest the oppressive class system of the city he lived in, and yet his message is very easy to understand today. The fact is that there are many places in the world today where the poor are treated in much the same way as the people of London two hundred years ago. It is not a small-scale phenomenon-hundreds of millions of poverty-stricken people continue to struggle through the trials of daily survival, and their suffering weighs heavily on our consciences. This reveals that in this way society hasn’t changed a considerable amount compared to when Blake wrote ‘London’ although nowadays other issues of which Blake frowned upon have been improved. William Blake was a profoundly stirring poet, whose works were very much shaped by current events. He was, in large part, responsible for bringing about the Romantic Movement in poetry and was also able to achieve remarkable results with the simplest means. Blake’s research and introspection into the human mind and soul has resulted in his being called the â€Å"Columbus of the psyche†, and because no language existed at the time to describe what he discovered on his voyages, he created his own mythology to describe what he found there. He was an accomplished poet, painter, and engraver. Many of the works written by Blake reflect his feelings and attitude to the world in which he lived. Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794) is tales in the form of poems of the innocent, pastoral world of childhood against an adult world of corruption and repression. Such poems as â€Å"The Lamb† represent a meek virtue, whereas poems like â€Å"The Tyger† exhibit opposing, darker forces. Thus the collection as a whole explores the value and limitations of two different perspectives on society in the world. Many of the poems fall into pairs, so that the same situation or problem is seen through the lens of innocence first and then experience. Blake does not identify himself wholly with either view; most of the poems are dramatic, meaning, in the voice of a speaker other than the poet himself. Blake stands outside innocence and experience, in a distanced position from which he hopes to be able to recognize and correct the mythical untruths of both. In particular, he pits himself against dictatorial authority, restrictive morality, sexual repression, and institutionalised religion; his great insight is into the way these separate modes of control work together to smother what is most holy in human beings in society. The Songs of Innocence dramatize the naive hopes and fears that inform the lives of children and trace their transformation as the child grows into adulthood. Some of the poems are written from the perspective of children, while others are about children as seen from an adult perspective. Many of the poems draw attention to the positive aspects of natural human understanding prior to the corruption and distortion of experience. Others take a more critical stance toward innocent purity: for example, while Blake draws, touching portraits of the emotional power of rudimentary Christian values, he also exposes over the heads as it were of the innocent, Christianity’s capacity for promoting injustice and cruelty. The Songs of Experience works by parallels and contrasts to lament the ways in which the harsh experiences of adult life destroy what is good in innocence, while also articulating the weaknesses of the innocent perspective (â€Å"The Tyger,† for example, attempts to account for real, negative forces in the universe, which innocence such as in ‘The Lamb’ fails to confront). These latter poems treat sexual morality in terms of the repressive effects of jealousy, shame, and secrecy, all of which corrupt the ingenuousness of innocent love. With regard to religion, they are less concerned with the character of individual faith than with the institution of the Church, its role in politics, and its effects on society and the individual mind. Experience thus adds a layer to innocence that darkens its hopeful vision while compensating for some of its ignorant blindness. The style of the Songs of Innocence and Experience is simple and direct, but the language and the rhythms are painstakingly crafted, and the ideas they explore are often deceptively complex. Many of the poems are narrative in style; others, like â€Å"The Sick Rose† and â€Å"The Divine Image,† make their arguments through various types of symbolism or by means of abstract concepts. Some of Blake’s favourite rhetorical techniques are personification and the reworking of Biblical symbolism and language. Blake frequently employs the familiar meters of ballads, nursery rhymes, and hymns, applying them to his own, often unorthodox conceptions. This combination of tradition and the unfamiliar, with Blake’s perpetual interest in reconsidering and reframing the assumptions of human thought and social behaviour depict that Blake’s philosophical thoughts have always questioned the ways of society of his time and the future, in many ways his thoughts extracted from his work were indeed correct and by using symbolism in words, metaphors, sounds, enjambments and narrators plus several other ways has commented on society through his personal point of view, he used religion, people’s classes, people’s occupations, other living beings and indications of emotions to get his ideas across, whether in agreement or not. Most of William Blake’s poems especially in ‘Songs of Experience’ are disagreeing with the ways of society and the rules. How to cite How does William Blake use symbolism to comment on society in Songs of Experience?, Papers

Beautiful Blueberries Essay Example For Students

Beautiful Blueberries Essay Christopher McCandless last journal entry before dying of starvation in the Alaska bush was simply the words Beautiful Blueberries. Over the previous two years he bought a secondhand canoe on impulse and paddled to Mexico. Then he lived on the streets of Los Angeles with vagrants, camped in the Arizona dessert with hippies, tramped through almost every western state, occasionally holding odd jobs. He also lived completely off the land in the Alaskan backcountry. McCandless epic journey separated him from his parents and peers, a world of security and material excess, and a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence. It was a journey that would have been a complete waste if it werent for Jon Krakauers book entitled Into the Wild. A lot of people believe that McCandless was an idiot. He was simply one more dreamy half-caulked greenhorn who went into the country expecting to find answers to all his problems and instead found only mosquitoes and a lonely death. Some people blamed Krakauer, in the magazine article that preceded the book, for glorifying a foolish, pointless death. But the beauty of Krakauers writing is that he doesnt glorify Chris McCandless life or even try to hide his personal weaknesses. Instead, that which becomes evident is a vivid portrait of McCandless journeys and an examination of why people are attracted to high-risk activities. Krakauer begins the book with Chris McCandless hiking into the Alaskan wilderness to his ensuing death. He does not return to this scene until the next to last chapter, effectively forcing the reader to see McCandless as more than an unprepared misfit who deserved to die because of the risks he took. We learn of his adventures tramping around the continent, discern how McCandless differs from people whom he had been favorably compared to in the outdoors community, learn of his family and upbringing, and we are told of a similar adventure in Alaska which almost claimed the authors life. Only then are we returned to the morbid Alaskan scene and the controversies surrounding McCandless death. Krakauer succeeds in writing a powerful book because we become attached to McCandless dream and sympathize to a greater degree with his desire to undertake what he labeled as the ultimate challenge. There are some unconventional aspects of the book, which turn it into something greater than a story of Chris McCandless. These are the way in which Krakauer goes about examining Chris McCandless through his own life, through others who have a similar desire for adventure, and through an examination of the novels he read. Into the Wild is not a fluff story about a misdirected youth; it has themes to which anyone who has ever dreamed of undertaking their own adventure, however large or small, can relate and gain insight. Overall Krakauer believes Chris McCandless wasnt that different from anyone else who liked adventure. Throughout the book there is an underlying battle against McCandless critics by trying to justify the  journey. Krakauer confesses that after writing a magazine article on McCandless he remained haunted by the particulars of the boys starvation and by vague, unsettling parallels between events in his life and those in my own. Unwilling to let McCandless go, Krakauer spent more than a year retracing the convoluted path that led to his death in the Alaska bush, chasing down the details with an interest that bordered on obsession until he finished writing the book. In this fierce passion, Krakauer is not only telling of McCandless life but his own, and in the process trying to make a world of critics understand why he, McCandless, and countless others are drawn to a life of potentially suicidal adventure. This passion draws the reader in, spins them around and spits them back out into the world with a different perception of life. This passion makes Into the Wild an amazing book.

Vygotsky and Piaget Pedagogy Essay Example

Vygotsky and Piaget Pedagogy Essay Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Len Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective have played critical roles in educational psychology. Both of these major frameworks will be analyzed and compared. From these two different standpoints, it will be illustated how a particular concept or cognitive skill can be taught. Russian psychologist Len Semenovich Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a fundamental figure in the exploration of â€Å"the sociocultural theory. † His ideas played crucial roles in the pedagogical framework of children and education. Thoroughly, he examined the sociocultural theory which emphasizes the role in development of cooperative dialogues between children and more knowledgeable members of society. Children learn their culture (ways of thinking and behaving) through these interactions (Berk Winsler 19). Vygotsky believed that our mental structures and processes can be traced back to our interactions with others (Berk Winsler 12-15). Social interactions not only have an influence on our cognitive development, they actually create our cognitive structures and thinking process (Woolfolk 39). During shared activities between the child and another person, higher mental processes are first co-constructed. This is a social process in which people interact and negotiate (usually verbally) to create an understanding or solve a problem (Woolfolk 39). The processes are then internalized by the child and become part of the child’s cognitive development. The final product is shaped by all participants (Berk Winsler 15). For example (Tharp Gallimore 14): A six-year-old has lost a toy and asks her father for help. The father asks her where she last saw the toy; the child says â€Å"I can’t remember. He asks a series of questions- did you have it in your room? Outside? Next door? To each question, the child answers, â€Å"no. † When he says â€Å"in the car? † She says â€Å"I think so† and goes to retrieve the toy. Vygotsky once stated that â€Å"ever function in a child’s development appears twice: first on the social level and then lat er on the individual level; first between people ‘interpsychological’ and then inside the child ‘intrapsychological’ (Berk Winsler 12. )† For instance, the strategy for finding the toy was initially co-constructed by both- the child and the adult. We will write a custom essay sample on Vygotsky and Piaget Pedagogy specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Vygotsky and Piaget Pedagogy specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Vygotsky and Piaget Pedagogy specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The next time that child loses a toy it is probable that he/she may have internalized a strategy on how to find the toy (by recalling all the previous places that the toy was last seen). This adult guidance provides early support while students build the understanding necessary to solve problems (Woolfolk 59). Eventually the child will be capable of functioning independently in the process of problem solving. In this scenario, perhaps the child may be capable of finding the toy with no help the next time this problem arises. Vygotsky emphasized the importance of cultural tools, which enables the transfer of cognition from the social to the individual plane (Berk Winsler 21). Cultural tools include material tools such as: computers, scales Internet, rulers, ect. On the other hand, psychological tools include: symbol systems, numbers, language, graphs, maps, codes, languages, ect. These tools allow people in society to communicate, think, solve problems, and create knowledge (Woolfolk 41). These tools are used in daily activities by the child in formal and informal settings, with the help from an adult. An example of using a psychological tool to aid in the advancement of development would be the construction of a map. In this scenario, collaboration would occur between the child and the teacher on how to represent the concepts of people and spaces. In return, these co-constructed ideas are internalized within the child and development occurs. â€Å"Learning leads development (Wood 101). † These tools are fundamental in development because they support thinking, which results in the construction of the child’s understanding of the social and physical world (Berk Winsler 23). Vygotsky emphasized the tool of language as a critical factor in development. Initially, speech serves as a regulative communication function (Wood 29). In time, children develop language as the build on other cognitive abilities by trying to make sense in what they hear. Self talk guides the child’s cognitive thinking. This external tool slows down the thought process, allowing concepts, thoughts, or ideas to be more comprehensible- resulting in problem solving. It transforms the way children, learn, think, and understand (Wood 29). Vygotsky believed that thinking is radically transformed when children become capable of linguistic communication. â€Å"At the least, sounds, meanings, words and sequence of words, volume, voice tone, inflection, and turn-taking rule must all be coordinated before a child can communicate effectively in conversation (Woolfield 51). † Because a child’s self-directed talk aids in the thinking and problem solving process, it helps develops child’s self regulation. (Berk Winsler106-108) This is the process of activating and sustaining thoughts, behaviors, and emotions in order to reach goals (Woolfield 621). An example would be the â€Å"taking turn rule,† during a conversation. The child must sustain the behavior of talking while another person is talking in order to have a successful conversation. On the other hand, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) developed the theory of cognitive development, which is based on the assumption that people try to make sense of the world and actively create knowledge through direct experience with objects, people, and ideas (Wood 22). Unlike Vygotsky, Piaget believed that the individual construct their own understanding of the work. The child’s development first occurs on the individual level then on the social level. Because we are constantly trying to make sense of the world in which we live, our thinking process change drastically from birth until maturity. Piaget thought that a major influence on the way we perceive and make sense of the world, is through the process of maturation, which is the genetically programmed, naturally occurring changes over time (Wood 21). More specifically, Piaget believed that young people go through four stages as they develop: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete-operational, and formal operational (Woolfield 57). Conversely, Vygotsky did not believe there was a set stage for development. In the first stage through the exploration of motor activity, infants in the sesorimotor stage (approximately between the ages of 0-2 years) gradually work towards mastering object permanence as well as performing goal-directed activities. Object permanence is â€Å"the understanding that objects exist in an environment whether they perceive them or not (Woolfolk 30. )† For instance, if you take a certain toy away from away from a young infant, they will not acknowledge that that toy exists. Out of sight, out of mind (Woolfolk. )† On the other hand, if an older child sees a package of enticing cookies laying on the table and starts crying for one, even if the adult moves the cookies in the cabinet (clearly out of sight from the child) the child will still know that even though he physically cannot see the cookies- they still exist. The child will begin to make use of imitation, memory, and though t. An example of imitation would be a baby copying the gestures of â€Å"peek-a-boo† with an adult. The preoperational stage occurs between 2-7 years of age. Symbolic thinking gradually begins to develops. For instance, if there is not a toy phone, a child may pick up a block and pretend that that is the phone. During this stage, the child may have a difficult time seeing another person’s point of view. Their concept of space â€Å"is subjective and centered on their own body (Wood 67). † For example, during an experiment, three mountains were placed together. The children were supplied with pictures on how the mountains would look from different positions when observing. They then were asked how another person would view the model from different positions. In most cases, children in this stage are most likely to choose the mountain from the position in which they view the mountain (Wood 67). The concrete-operational stage occurs during the age of 7-11 years (Woolfield 32). The child achieves the principle of conservation during this time. A 5 year old is shown two identical glasses that are wide and short. Both are holding the same exact amount of water, and the child agrees with that notion. The experimenter then pours one of the cups of water into a taller, narrower glass. When the child is asked which glass has more water the second time around, the child declares the taller glass does, â€Å"because it goes up higher (Wood). † Piget believes the child at the concrete-operational stage would have the ability to acknowledge the difference. Also, the child at this stage developes reversible thinking, which is the ability to think from the end to the beginning (Woolfield 31). The last stage is the formal operation stage that occurs from 11 years of age to adulthood. Piaget believed that an individual during this time could become more scientific in thinking, had the ability to solve problems in a logical fashion, and developes concerns regarding social issues and identity (Woolfield 30). Piaget’s theory places action and self-directed problem solving at the heart of learning and development. Learning and development are separate entites. By acting on the world, the learner comes to discover how to control it. Development must be constructed on the basis of knowledge. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Vygotsky believe that they learning and behavior are not separate entities because learning leads development. * * * Piaget puts less emphasis on social experiences and inter-personal behavior as an crucial part of development opposed to Vygotsky. Piaget believed that since the individual construct their own understanding of the work, the child’s development first occurs on the individual level then on the social level. He believed that social facilitation may aid in development because the child is exposed to other points of views, which in return may cause him/her to re-think his individual ideas (Wood 17). However, social facilitation will only be benefital to the child if they are at the â€Å"appropriate state of readiness for change (Wood 17). † (The state of readiness is theâ€Å"stage of development† that was discussed in the previous section. ) Most likely Piaget would not pair two student together to work collaboratively if they were on different levels of development. On the contrary, Vygotsky would most likely pair two students together of different levels so that the students could co-constuct eachothers learning. In my classroom, I would adovate students of different abilities to work together. Both students would benefit in the exchange explanations and questions that each has to offer. In both perspectives, the role of the teacher is to facilitate and guide the students. Both psychologist placed a different emphasis on the importance of instruction. Vygotsky placed instruction in the heart of learning. Instruction is a mayor contribution to children’s growing consiousness and regulation of their own thought processm it prompts a shift to a higher level of cognitive activity (Berk Winsler 106). † The teacher would partake in guided participation, such as walking the students through a complicated problem. For example, if a student was still hesitant on how to solve a math problem, they may do part of the problem and remind the st udent of the proper steps to take to solve it. The teacher should allow revision from the student, offer the student feedback and ask questions. For example, if the students finishs a long division math problem- ask the student to explain what the remainder is. Vygotsky would also encourage a â€Å"think out loud† to assist in learning. For example, if I were teaching a class reading comprehension: first I would read a book aloud, then I would read the same book again only this time modeling my thought process out loud. I would elaborate on the connections I made to the text and to myself. This would demonstrate to the students the revisions and choices a learner undergoes. To scaffold learning in a classroom there are many different approaches such as clues, reminders, encouragements, and breaking down problems into steps and providing examples (Woolfield 49). On the other hand, Piaget believed that instruction can refine and improve structures that have already emerged, but it cannot lead to the development of concepts as Vygotsky believed (Berk Winsler 108). In this case, I would introduce a topic to a group of students together, then I would have them work on follow up activitites to match their learning needs. When devising lesson plans, the teacher would have to be conscious of restructing prior knowledge. To accomplish this, the teacher’s role would be to make connections to what the students already know. For instance, if I were to teach a lesson on the holocaust, if I had previously read â€Å"Number the Stars† by Louis Lowry (a journal of a girl hidden in a attic durning the holocaust), I would first discuss the book before introducing new ideas. In conclusion, Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Len Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective have played critical roles in educational psychology. Their framework has provided us with insightful theories regarding learning and development and ways particular concepts or cognitives skill can be taught from these standpoints. Berk, Laura Winsler, Adam(1995). Scaffolding Children’s Learning: Vygotsky and Early Childhood Education. Tharp, R. G. , Gallimore, R. (1988). Rousing minds to life: Teaching, learning, and schooling in social context. New York: Cambridge University Press. Pg 14. Wood, David. (1988). How Children Learn and Think: Second Edition. Blackwell Publishing. Woolfolk, Anita. (2007). Educational Psychology: Tenth Edition. Pearson Education. Boston.

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buy custom Revolutions in Latin America essay Colombia has faced internal conflict for more than forty years. The conflict involves the issue of distribution of natural resources in the country. Areas that attract the fiercest conflict are those with strategic and economic significance. The armed clashes, coupled with implementation of major agricultural projects have resulted to the forceful dispossession of the native people from their lands. The end result has been prime violation of human rights, poverty and obliteration of traditional values among other damages. This article will address the fate of women and the minority groups during the recent conflict in the country. In the book, The Dispossessed, Molano presents testimonies of individual victims of displacement. He lets them give their own stories concerning the way they were displaced along side other thousands of Colombians during the conflict. Most of the displaced people are women who serve as the heads of their homes. He provides a striking glance at the social implications of the Colombian women who are deprived of their basic necessities in life (Molano, 2005, p 135). They were violently forced out of their native homes by military groups. In addition to showing the problems in Colombia, this is a symbolic representation of the state of affairs affecting most of the residents in Latin America. Although the setting of every story is in a different part of the country, they all display some commonality. The common theme is that of desolation and disillusionment For instance, Angela who is one of the narrators in the book expresses her fear towards the end of her extract, My father wants to go backhe says everything is going to be difficult here. But I do not wan to go back. (Molano, 2005, p 77). There is always needless violence which shakes and changes the protagonists in the stories. The violences makes some people to hide in the wilderness where there are no possibilities of stability. Tonito, who is another narrator in the book says I ran until I couldnt hear the screams anymore (Molano, 2005, p 105). No matter the cause of the forceful violence, the victims are always the same: women and minority ethnic groups. Ninfa shows how she was not ready to forgive the military for having killed her husband (Molano, 2005, p 135). Born in Blood and Fire Born in Blood and Fire is a book by John Chasteen, which deals with social class structures and intricate racial diversity. It further explains the political, social and economic developments that resulted to shaping Latin America. Every chapter is broken down into specific theme and the author illustrates how the theme controls and affects the lives of countries in the region and the world at large. One of the major issues that are of great interest is the way governments in Latin America have been in conflict with that of the United States (Chasteen, 2001). He also shows how the people in the high social ladder contributed to the conflict in Mexxico and Cuba. Revolutions in both countries were instigated by prominent and wealthy people in these regions. This was observed during times of crisis and therefore the prominent people took sides with the group that seemed to emerge the winner (Chasteen, 2001). Although the revolutions brought some benefits to the poor, they were hardly taken away from biting poverty. Mexican economy was strong and its political basis was evidently stable. On the other hand, Cuba had been led by one president, Fidel Castro for over five decades after he overthrew dictatorial regime in 1959. Castro was held to socialist movements and he even supported the socialist revolutions happening in the world. Due to his ideologies, the country had lost most of her trading partners and was headed for an economic crisis. During the revolutions in both countries, wealthy residents wanted to have a change of the regimes that were ruling by then (Chasteen, 2001). The United States was allied to the group that pushed for the revolutions. Yes I do agree that revolutions in both countries were instigated by prominent and wealthy people. The book is indeed a comprehensive illustration of stories of despair and hope. It spans across six countries in Latin America depicting the hardships that the residents in respective countries pass through as they progress to attain their socio-economic and political freedom (Chasteen, 2011). It demonstrates the processes of colonization and the quest for economic development as well as political and social impartiality. Buy custom Revolutions in Latin America essay

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What factors have contributed to the rise of prime ministerial power - Essay Example This scenario could be attributed to inadequate formal procedure for devolving the powers of the state among the political leaders and civil servants. The prime minister has the duty to watch over, manage and direct the government business. They are responsible for controlling the parliament and the process of drafting the policies (White 88). However, as the party leaders there is an increasing media exposure since the prime ministers are increasingly reporting the progress of the political parties. For example, in some nations like the United Kingdom the prime ministers have assumed unconstitutional powers of chief spokespersons. The media especially television and radio have focused a lot on the prime ministers giving them an opportunity to get in touch with the electorates in order to provide the electorates with the select a leader who will be an effective orator (Strangio, Hart & Walter 264). Therefore, the emerging need to have a prime minister who can communicate effectively has amplified the influence of the prime ministers. The mandates of the prime ministers are clearly stipulated in the laws. The prime minister is the leader of the government operations and is in s/he coordinates the party issues in order to strengthen both the party and the government (White 96). They are responsible for selecting and controlling the operations of the cabinet. Although the roles of the prime ministers are clarified in the constitution, there are day-to-day political issues which require the effort of the executives in order to come up with a quick solution. Prime minister is the senior executive in the government hence s/he is charged with authority to find the required solution because the constitution cannot be amended on a daily basis to provide a solution to the emerging issues (Samuels & Shugart 254). The fact that the prime minister has to make some

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Ethics in Health Care Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

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