Back to the Playground †Theology Essay

Back to the Playground – Theology Essay Free Online Research Papers Back to the Playground Theology Essay I’m spending a lot more time at playgrounds lately. My grandchildren are coniseurs of playgrounds. When they come to visit, I usually ask them what they want to do. Invariably, they excitedly sing out, â€Å"Let’s go to the park!† Park to them means a playground. They can’t conceive of a park without a playground. I’ve learned some valuable lessons at the playground. On our last trip to a playground, two of my grandchildren came along. They had just put clean clothes on and it had rained during the night. So I was a little apprehensive about the puddles of water on the playground. It wasn’t long before I spotted Kaitlyn on the playground digging through the rocks and mud. Just before I was about to scold her for getting her clothes dirty, she came running toward me with an outstretched arm and a smile on her face. When she got to me she handed me a little heart-shaped rock and said, â€Å"Here PaPa! Here is a heart for you – just because I love you! Keep it!† With tears in my eyes, I thanked her. Did I scold her for getting her clothes muddy? What do you think? No way! And, yes, I still have that little heart-shaped rock given to me by my four-year-old granddaughter. It is one of the best gifts that I have ever received. I realized that many times we miss out on so much when we sweat the small stuff. We need to spend a lot more time at the playground. Jesus said, â€Å"Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven† (Matthew 18:3-4). What are some things we can learn on the playground to help us live simple, stress free lives? First – SIMPLICITY enables us to relax and have peace. Jesus revealed that those who live in humility as a little child are the greatest in the kingdom of God. Children enjoy the simple things in life. We often take things too seriously. Prolonged seriousness will kill. It will kill your joy and, worse, it will kill your child-likeness. As adults, we tend to make things too complicated. When David was a shepherd boy, he dared to believe with childlike faith that God would deliver the giant Goliath into his hands. He spurned all of the body armor and weapons that King Saul gave him. Instead, he met the giant on the battlefield with his simple sling and five smooth stones. He figured it was simple – the giant was so big he couldn’t miss! Who won? That’s simple – God plus one is always the majority. (See I Samuel 17.) Second – SING. Sing a silly song sometimes. Children love to sing. The Bible says, â€Å"A merry heart doeth good like medicine† (Proverbs 17:2). (See Proverbs 15:13 and Ephesians 5:18-19.) Have you lost your song? Ask God to give you a new song to sing. (See Psalm 98:1.) Third – STAY LOOSE. Children are not normally uptight and worried about life. Ask yourself, â€Å"Will this matter a year from now?† I picked up a great little book the other day that had an intriguing title – Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and it’s all small stuff by Richard Carlson PhD. It is Dr Carlson’s premise that whenever we’re dealing with bad news or troublesome situations, most of us get into certain habits, ways of reacting to life that don’t serve us very well. We overreact, tend to blow things out of proportion, hold on too tightly, and focus on the negative. We live our life as if it was one huge emergency! Stay loose – don’t sweat the small stuff. (See Matthew 6:25-34.) Fourth – SHARE. Children usually love to share. Giving is fun and it doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate. Have you ever seen the delight of two children sharing an ice cream cone or simply jumping through mud puddles or dancing in the rain? I saw a wonderful bumper sticker not too long ago. It said, â€Å"Practice Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty†. Practicing random or spontaneous acts of kindness is an effective way to get in touch with the joy of giving without expecting anything in return. It’s even more rewarding when you don’t let anyone know what you are doing. Remember that Jesus said, â€Å"It is more blessed to give than to receive†. Also, why not take time each day and think of someone to thank? Fifth – SPRITIUAL VITALITY brings everlasting and abundant life. Children are naturally attuned to the spiritual. Only as people grow older do they become hardened and insensitive to the spiritual. That’s why we need to go back to the playground and become as little children. Jesus warns us, â€Å"I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven† (Matthew 18:3 NLT). Perhaps you need to sing that old children’s song again, â€Å"Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves. Yes, Jesus loves me.† Do you need to go back to the playground of childlike simplicity and humility? In childlike faith ask Jesus Christ to come into your life. â€Å"For as many as received Him gave He power to become children of God even those who believed on His name† (John 1:12). 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How to communicate with students through technology

How to communicate with students through technology Your students are on devices all day long, constantly texting, scrolling through social media, and checking email between classes (and sometimes during class). While many schools have technology policies and some teachers ban devices in their classroom, some are embracing tech to reach this generation in key ways: as teaching tools within the classroom, through multimodal assignments, and through communication beyond the classroom. Tech is increasingly being used in the classroom as a learning tool- even as the assignment itself. Your students are learning how to build personal websites and sophisticated presentations using software like Google Slides, Prezi, or Canva; students today are increasingly more likely to upload a file rather than print an assignment on paper.Consequently, teachers writing notes on the margins of an assignment in red ink is becoming a thing of the past. Whether it’s a way to reach the eyes that are overly invested in their screens or simply to find t he most functional way to give feedback on various types of media, there are several ways to use tech as a communication tool in and beyond the classroom.But first let’s be clear about what not to do: no texting students or communicating via social media apps. Although you want to reach students, communicating with tech they primarily use with friends or family muddies the effectiveness of your messaging, and potentially communicates a lack of seriousness to some students. It also interferes with your own ability to set proper boundaries between you and your students, as well as between your work life and your home life. It’s not about being the cool techy teacher. It’s about finding tools that suit your needs and meeting your students where they are.Go PaperlessThe paperless classroom can be a way to not only stop the spread of germs, but also make turning in an assignment as easy as clicking a button. Wouldn’t it also be great to give students feedback just as easily? Using the comments features on Microsoft Word or platforms like Google Docs can be great for providing feedback to students who can reexamine the assignment in the same way they created it: on screen.This isn’t just about convenience; electronic feedback lets you make changes directly to their document, allowing them to get a sense of what the finished revision would look like without the need to decode your handwriting. Google Docs can also be a great way to communicate to students engaged in group work and allow easy communication among multiple users.Going paperless can be more easily facilitated when your school uses LMS (Learning Management Systems) like Canvas or D2L, but there are a number of Google products like Google Sites that can allow teachers seeking out a user-friendly platform to provide online syllabi, updates, and assignments that students can access quickly.Voice VideoWe so often gear the classroom towards reaching auditory, visual, and kin esthetic learners to reinforce the multiple ways students receive messages, but some teachers rarely mix it up in their feedback- which is often written. Providing feedback on documents using voice annotations features that exist in programs like Microsoft Word or creating voiceovers on video-recorded presentations with programs like Screenflow can be a great way to reach students who are auditory learners. It’s also a way to engage students who get to hear the real voice of the teacher and read impressions and detect enthusiasm that can get lost in written feedback.The great thing about tech is that it allows more types of communication and creative ways to engage students- but it also is a two-way street. Various apps that allow you or your students to develop video with some flair like Filmora or Animoto can be a dynamic way to engage class material for everyone.Interactive TechIn the classroom, communicating course content can be made more interactive by creating lessons where technology use is required through platforms like Blendspace (which can incorporate a YouTube video, Power Points, images and documents). You can engage students with interactive games like Kahoot- a quick multiple-choice quiz game the entire class plays on their phones or computer. Or you can engage student feedback through interactive polls like Poll Everywhere or Micropoll.By inviting students specifically to use the devices they are so familiar with, you can help facilitate the learning process and get your students excited to learn.

Scholarly Journal Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Scholarly Journal Review - Essay Example The paper also states that the definition of this model is highly evolving in response to the changing needs of our schools in the global education reforms. Introduction The emergence of the instructional leadership model is known to have brought about improved educational outcomes in schools in contrast to the earlier leadership models, which have been used in our schools today, that is, situational leadership, contingency theory, and trait theories. This model focuses on the manner in which teachers as well as the school administrators apply the educational leadership to improve performance in schools. Conceptualizing instructional leadership The instructional leadership model has been identified with a strong, effective, and directive leadership, which is focused on curriculum and instructions from the principal, as one of the characteristics of elementary schools, effective at teaching schoolchildren from the poor urban communities. The instructional leadership focuses mainly on the principal as the center of expertise, authority and power in any school. The importance of this role of the principal was inferred from studies that examined change implementation, schools improvement, school effectiveness, as well as program improvement. The two articles concludes that the â€Å"leadership skills† of the schools’ principal are one of the key contributing factors in explaining successful, school improvement and school effectiveness. After reading the above articles, the following are some of the areas I learnt about conceptualizing instructional leaders in our schools especially in secondary schools since this is where most principals apply (Cuban, 1997). Instructional leaders are goal oriented and they only focus on student academic outcomes. Their mission is to ensure that the curriculum is best for the students; they too ensure that the students’ performance can be assessed; hence, this has helped many students in performing better in the ir education. The instructional leaders are also seen as culture builders in the sense that they try to create an academic press which focus on high standards for students as well as for teachers. This ensures that the schools like other sectors have their own culture centered on their improved performance. This ensures that the students have set goals and objectives, hence, work towards achieving those goals. This makes the schools performances improve. The growing concerns on effective schools focusing on poor urban schools in need of a substantial change, then makes the instructional leaders to be conceived to be strong and directive leader. They have helped the poor urban schools in performing better; hence, students are in a position to achieve good grades than they did before. It is the principal’s role to work with staff in order to ensure that the school has clear and measurable goals, which are focused on academic performance of the students. The principal also ensur e that the above mentioned goals are widely known and also supported throughout the community. This statement does not mean that it is only the principal who defines the school mission alone but he/she ensures that the school has a clear academic mission and then communicates it to the staff The instructional leadership also focuses on coordination and control of the schools curriculum as well as monitoring the student’s progress in classrooms. Here, the leader is deeply engaged in the schools instructional

Police Profiling Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Police Profiling - Term Paper Example It can be remembered that several activists, especially college students, participated in mass protests against racial discrimination i.e. in the early 1960’s, with people such as Martin Luther King, Junior coming into the limelight (Erlich & Susan, 2000). In the process of conducting these protests, civilians, mostly whites, embarked on a mission to disrupt through violence and intimidation whereby protestors were beaten to death. Instead of performing their national duties to protect these citizens, the police at that time instead connived with the vigilantes to suppress the blacks, most notably by escorting the buses carrying protestors only to lead and leave them in the hands of vigilantes (Erlich & Susan, 2000). Driving while black in the US is a terminology which emanated from the practice of state police harassing black motorists without any legal basis (Meeks, 2002). In this context, black citizens are always suspected to be criminals and it is the perception of most o fficers that the car being driven by them is either stolen or the occupants are on a mission to commit crime. In San Diego 1997, a Shawn Lee was arrested and detained for more than an hour on the basis that he was driving a vehicle, which, perceivably, did not befit his status as it was an expensive Jeep. In his statement, the arresting officer defended himself by implying that he was acting on information the police had of a similar vehicle which had allegedly been stolen the previous night, which of course turned out to be a lie (Meeks, 2002). The issue of immigration in the modern America has also promoted police profiling against Americans of Hispanic origin. This is due to the perception that the society has against these people whereby they are viewed as potential illegal immigrants, who are out to disrupt peace in the country by the virtue of numerous criminal activities associated with countries such as Mexico, which include and not limited to drug trade, involvement in crim inal gang activities among others. In this context, a person of Hispanic origin has higher chances of being stopped and questioned by highway police on suspicion that he could be in the country illegally. In 1997 for example, an operation conducted by the US border patrol in conjunction with Chandler Police resulted to the arrest of approximately 430 illegal immigrants. However, more than 200 legal US citizens of Hispanic origin were arrested in the process, an action which resulted to the suing of the authorities, who were made by the courts to pay $400000 as compensation to the victims (O’Reilly, 2002). Similarly, the September 11 attacks on the US left the country in a state of phobia against people of the Middle Eastern origin (Holbert, 2004). This is due to the reason that the attacks were perpetrated by terrorists i.e. al-Qaida, which is an Arab dominated criminal network. Therefore, the police will always have a predetermined mind that whenever they encounter such peop le, there is a high possibility that they could be associated with the terrorist group and therefore it is a must for them to act more vigilantly towards them as opposed to the other Americans. According to supporters of this profiling, this is a measure to ensure that the security of the citizens is protected from possible threats especially if it is conducted efficiently in all points of entry into the country. On the other hand, critics view it as unnecessary and

The Kite Runner Essay Example for Free

The Kite Runner Essay An individual’s sense of belonging stems from their notions of identity, personal context, and place. A lack in any of these areas may result in a thorough sense of alienation and pose as a barrier, which prevents belonging and facilitates an individual’s decision to exclude themselves from their surroundings. However, ironically, these barriers that present hardship can truly liberate an individual and help them in finding a more fulfilled state of belonging. These ideas are explored in Shakespeare’s play, As You Like It and Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner. Barriers to belonging are evident in the play in ‘As you like it’ and are explored through gender paradigms, and social structures. Particularly through the relationship between Rosalind and Duke Frederick. Due to the usurpation of her father by the disloyal Duke Frederick, Rosalind is unfairly subjected to the harsh treatment by her Uncle. He creates suspicion and isolates Rosalind through his diction in, â€Å"Mistress, dispatch you with your safest haste and get you from our court. â€Å" â€Å"Me, uncle? † Here the employment of second person reveals the distancing of Rosalind from the hierarchy. His use of the imperative emphasises the barrier that will be created. Frederick is presented as a Machiavellian character whose threat, â€Å"or thou deist† emphasises the danger inherent in her vulnerable state. Her vulnerability due to her gender is also evident, when he alludes to the Christian practice of purgation â€Å"If purgation did consist in words† which is associated with a spiritual cleansing, of the body which suggests that Rosalind is impure He also confirms the notion of the impure female by his use of sibilance (to Celia) in â€Å"She is too subtle for thee and her smoothness,Her very silence† He uses juxtaposition between Celia and Rosalind to reinforce Celia’s â€Å"purity† â€Å"Thou wilt show more bright and virtuous. Therefore, the issue of sexuality and female deviousness is alluded to. Furthermore, R’s separation by gender is evident in, Touchstone’s dialogue as he says to Rosalind, â€Å"Thus men grow wiser everyday. It is the first time I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies. † Touchstone does not think wrestling is a sport for ladies to enjoy. In dressing as Ganymede, she acquires a certain freedom to move around, give advice, and associate as an equal among other men. Breaking free of an external factor and gaining a sense of attachment. Thus her projection of control affects her sense of belonging by challenging the traditional sense of gender roles. Comparatively, ‘The kite runner’, explores the disparity created by differences in cultural backgrounds. This connection manifests in the relationship between Amir and Hassan, though Amir is true to Hassan in private, he feels the need to relate to Hassan according to the prevailing social hierarchy in public. â€Å"Afghanistan is the land of the Pashtun’s†¦not the flat-nosed Hazara’s, these people pollute our homeland. They dirty our blood. The inclusive language at the beginning of the quote is aimed at the Pashtun’s whereas the negative connotations of ‘pollute’ and ‘dirty’ emphasise the subservient position of the Hazara’s in the Afghani society and thus losing their sense of placement within society. Amir has to face that fact he is disloyal to his relationship with Hassan and begins personal growth. â€Å"He’s my servant! Had I really though that? † â€Å"Everywhere I turned I saw signs of his loyalty, his goddamn unwavering loyalty. † the absence of conjunction emphasises his thorough regrets that act as a barrier preventing him from belonging. Furthermore, Assef tells Amir Afghanistan is like a beautiful mansion littered with garbage† This denigrating simile compares Afghanistan to a beautiful mansion, i. e. something that is sacred whilst the Hazara are being compared to garbage, belittling these people. This quote also juxtaposes the concepts of a mansion and garbage where a mansion represents wealth, influence, authority and respect whereas garbage signifies something that defiles an otherwise pristine environment. The discrimination against the Hazara’s detaches them from their homeland of Afghanistan and thus limits their ability to belong. Through familial relationships, characters from both texts have furthered their understanding and ability to belong. From AYLI, Orlando is marginalised and alienated as his jealous older brother Oliver has cut him out of their father’s will and had not educated him as their father wished. The simile, said by Orlando, â€Å"You have trained me like a peasant† likens him to poverty. Orlando is clearly irritated by his mistreatment and as a result catalyses his ability to belong. â€Å"I will no longer endure it,† he says with high modality and escapes into the forest of Arden where he found a sense of acceptance. Through his new connection Orlando develops a more enduring connection through Rosalind, who like impresario, provoking characters like Orlando to re-evaluate the quality of relationships. Rosalind uses eloquence rather than verbosity. This is evident in, â€Å"To Shakespeare love between men and women is grounded in mutual, not just masculine, behaviour†¦what has happened between people helps make possible what will happen. † Striving to feel a bond of security, Amir was desperate to win his fathers approval. If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son. The short sentences in the quote, are to the point and Baba had not thought twice about the distant relationships between the two nor has he made the effort to improve that. Amir, on the other hand, went to the extent to betray his best friend in hopes of gaining the love of his father to fill the void within him that prevented him from any sense of security. Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba The diction here alludes to the religious ceremony of sacrificing a lamb to a greater power, and similarly, Amir sacrifices Hassan to achieve something greater. Amir and Babas relationship was artificial but through the strain they experienced, Amir was pushed to realise his place in where he truly belonged. There is also an atmosphere of political change and unrest in 1970 Afghanistan â€Å"something roared like thunder. The earth shook a little. † This pathetic fallacy, associated with explosions and gunfire associated with the entering of Russian tanks and â€Å" the death of the Afghanistan I knew. † show that the relationship between boys is a stable force similar to Celia and Rosalind in AYLI. An individual’s ability to conform is dependent on the place in which they are surrounded by. In AYLI, the juxtaposed locations of the forest and the court constantly remind the audience of the differences between them. The ironic use of â€Å"you cousin† by Duke Frederick clarifies how the court is governed by deceitful intrigue and flawed relationships whereas the biblical allusion to Eden said by Duke Senior â€Å"feel not the penalty of Adam† as they â€Å"fleet the time as carelessly as they did in the golden world† signifies the ideal world that man longs to be. The two parallel locations impact the characters when, from the oppression of the city, characters escape to the simple life of nature. Arden acts as a catalyst for their renewal, assisting their ability to arrive at a fuller sense of belonging for when they returned to court and thus is affected by external factor of place. In comparison, the Kite Runner shows the struggle of immigration. Amir along with Baba had to deal with fitting into an entirely different culture. Baba, who expressed a great deal of pride and attachment to his culture, was filled with a loss of identity when he moved to America, he’s identity was of a guest whilst in Afghanistan he was a successful and influential figure. Amir, on the other hand, finds temporary relief from the guilt he left behind in Afghanistan. Similar to the forest of Arden that provides characters with an illusion of paradise in â€Å"As you like it†, America provides Amir with a vacation from the reality of his personal problems. For me, America was a place to bury my memories†¦For Baba, a place to mourn his and thus demonstrating the importance of external factors such as place. To conclude, even though the texts are different they are dealing with universal themes of discrimination, familial connections and dislocation of place. And through these barriers that act to hold back an individuals ability to belong, it also acts as a catalyst for a deeper and more fulfilled state of belonging.

Cults And Jews :: essays research papers

Cults And Jews   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cults are becoming more and more of an issue for Jews every day. Many cults are beginning to target Jews. They say you can believe in Jesus yet remain a Jew, or many other things like that. It is important for people to educate themselves of these cults and their recruiting techniques so that they will not be taken advantage of by these cults. Cults now are very different than they were in ancient times though. The Jews, rather than being targeted by cults, were themselves a cult. In fact they were one of the first documented cults. Now, Judaism is not considered a cult, it is a religion. Back in the ancient days many aspects of the Israelites’ laws made them a cult. The Israelites had sacrifices for many occasions. Sin-offerings, guilt offering, fellowship, votive, freewill, dedicatory, and ordination are all documented reasons for sacrifices to God. These sacrifices are what made the ancient Israelites different from the modern day Jewish people. Those sacrifices are also what made the ancient Israelites a cult instead of being a religion like now. After the destruction of the second temple sacrifice was replaced with prayer and prayer still stands now.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mishna discusses the different sacrifices the Israelites made and the reasons they were made. The rabbis say that sacrifices were not a bad thing. Because the sacrifices were made to God and represented different things between God and the people, the sacrifices were allowed. Sacrifices were made for apologies to God, for holidays and many other purposes, but they were always animal sacrifices and they were always to God. These two aspects permitted the offerings. Because they were animal offerings, not human, the offerings were not too gore-filled. And since the offerings were made to God, it is not a person, but an all-powerful being. It makes sense to make offerings to God because God created the people and guided them. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate dictionary defines cult as: 1 : formal religious veneration : Worship. 2 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents. 3 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents. 4 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator . 5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion.

Economic and Political Systems of Cuba Essay

The Economic System in Cuba is known to be communism. Communism can be defined as a scheme of equalizing the social conditions of life. This system considers the termination of inequalities in the possession of property as well as the distribution of wealth equally to all individuals. Therefore, the means to achieve this is by the collectivization of all private property. By extension, collectivization is the process of forming collective communities where property and resources are owned by the community and not individuals. Freedom of expression is also mediated by the state. Communism is a system that usually is unsuccessful however, the only way that communism may be achieved is if every single member of a communist society is in complete agreement with the arrangement which was mentioned above. In early Cuban Political history, there were various communist as well as anarchist organizations for example the Communist Party of Cuba which was initiated in the early 1920’s by Julio Antonio Mella, Carlos Balino, Jose Marti and Fabio Grobart. It was then later led by both the first secretary and secondary secretary: – Fidel Castro and Raul Castro respectively. In Cuba, no other political party other than that of the Communist Party of Cuba is allowed to be formed in the fear that a non – communist party which will be funded by the United States of America would intervene and claim Cuba’s independence. In comparison to other ruling communist parties around the world, the communist party in Cuba retains a stricter approach and adherence to the tradition of Marxism – Leninism and the traditional Soviet Model. In addition, the Cuban Political System is described as authentic which is based on the unique history of the struggle for equality amongst individuals as well as independence. Cuba is a republic with a centralized socialist system with a structure of the State of Republic of Cuba as follows: –* National Assembly of People’s Power * Council of State * Council of Ministers * Provincial and Municipal Governments * Judiciary System