Akira Kurosawas The Seven Samurai and John Sturges The Magnificent Se

Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai and John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven The 1954 movie The Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa, and its 1960 remake The Magnificent Seven, directed by John Sturges have many similarities; for example, the plot of both movies entails farmers hiring mercenaries to help fend off bandits that annually pillage their farms. The two movies also have differences like the characterization of the bandits in The Magnificent Seven as opposed to The Seven Samurai. One of the main similarities between the Seven Samurai and Magnificent Seven is the plot. In both movies bandits annually pillage a small village and the farmers are left with barely enough food to survive. In the Magnificent Seven Calvera and his men actually stop in the town and talk to the farmers, however, in Seven Samurai the bandits ride by and are overheard by a farmer about coming back when the barley is ripe. The farmers then have a meeting and decide to hire mercenaries, in Seven Samurai the farmers use rice and in Magnificent Seven the farmers offer $20. In both movies the farmers are turned down many times before they find the first mercenary, and how they find the first mercenary is similar in the sense of the courage they show. In the Seven Samurai the main character Kanbei disguises himself as a monk and saves a child taken hostage. Magnificent Seven shows the main character Chris and his new found partner Vin in a violent confrontation with thugs who are trying...

Music and Memory in D. H. Lawrence’s Piano Essay -- Literature

D. H. Lawrence’s poetry is said to often be of â€Å"great biographical interest† (Encyclopedia Britannica), and his poem â€Å"Piano,† written in 1918, eight years after the death of his mother, illustrates his attachment to his mother through the device of an unwilling memory evoked when he hears a woman singing. Though Lawrence’s relationship with his mother is said to have been â€Å"an intensely—often labeled abnormally—close relationship† (Pearson and Watson), it is also said that it was she who encouraged him to obtain an education and to write. His mother was a teacher, and according to Norton, it is her â€Å"delicacy and refinement† that he â€Å"allied† himself with rather than his less educated, coarse coal miner father (2248). It is she whom he sided with in the conflict-ridden relationship he witnessed between his parents. According to Wart, â€Å"Piano† expresses Lawrence’s personal response when a â€Å"song stirs memories of childhood and his mother,† involuntary as these memories may be. However, though it may be true that we should never assume that the speaker of a poem is, indeed, the poet, according to Semansky, â€Å"Lawrence's work invites us to, as he has always woven autobiographical material into his writing.† Lawrence’s â€Å"Piano† may thus be considered to be the recounting of unwanted and involuntary emotional memory brought about as a response to music. â€Å"Piano† begins by describing a setting conducive to reflection and remembrance, â€Å"Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me† (Line 1). Intimacy is implied in the setting: â€Å"the dusk,† the singing being â€Å"soft† and seemingly personally directed to one individual all lend themselves to an aura of intimacy. This encounter draws Lawrence back through the â€Å"vista of years† (Line 2). In fact,... ..., 1900 to Present. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CBPNP235&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 4, 2012). Rexroth, Kenneth. "Introduction." D.H. Lawrence: Selected Poems. New Directions, 1947. 1-23. Rpt. in Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. Saunders, Clifford. "Critical Essay on 'Piano'." Poetry for Students. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. Semansky, Chris. "Critical Essay on 'Piano'." Poetry for Students. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. Wart, Alice Van. "Critical Essay on 'Piano'." Poetry for Students. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Apr. 2012.

Educational years Essay

School’s Reading Goal: * All students improve a grade level or more on Individual Reading Inventories Professional Development (PD) Focus: *All strategies presented in PD are geared towards reaching this goal. Individual Teacher Approaches: *The third grade teachers have used second grade test scores to identify that their students are weak in the area of comprehension Dawn has presented a strategy called Question Answer Relationships to help improve comprehension in students. The strategy helps students to learn to identify what kind of question is being asked to assist them in strategically finding the answer. Angie Heppner is a first year teacher who participates in the mandatory district teacher induction program. The induction program includes meeting with her mentor teacher, who is released from the classroom full time. The mentor teacher and Angie use data collected from classroom observation to set goals to work on in the classroom. The Participants Literacy Coach Dawn Benke works with 2nd and 3rd grade teachers as a literacy coach at a K-6 Teacher #1 Lillian Kurz has 31 students in her class, with five of her students falling far below in reading as identified through test data, 10 students approaching, 11 students meeting and four students exceeding. My comments: I totally understand the reasoning for Lilian not being offered the coach’s position. Based on her class data, it is evident that she is an effective teacher, and is very much valued in her grade level. She is working with a rather large class, which is difficult to consistently provide meaningful instructional activities as she would like to (particularly if she is dealing with behavioral issues). Teacher #2 Duane Keller has 29 students, with seven of his students falling far below in reading, seven approaching, 14 students meeting, and one student exceeding. My comments: I think the Duane seems to know what he is doing, based on the reading distribution data for his class. In addition, if it is not already being done, I think that a reading intervention time should be included in the daily schedule. The interventionist should be Duane, as those are his students and he would be better able to keep up with their progress and make connections with other grade level work being done in the classroom. Teacher #3 Jesse Vree’s class consists of 20 her students. She has three students who are falling far below, three students who are approaching, 19 students who are meeting and five students who are exceeding. My comments: WWOW! Jesse’s students are doing great! Based on her data, I think that Dawn should encourage her to share what works for her. Those three students, who are falling below, may have issues that need to be addressed by someone other than the classroom teacher. In some cases learning disabilities become clearing apparent as instruction intensifies. Teacher #4 Angie Heppner has 28 students; six of whom are falling far below, 10 who are approaching, 10 who are meeting, and two are exceeding. My comments: Angie is one lucky first-year teacher. It is great that she has a full-time mentor teacher. I know that she will amass a great deal of knowledge and avoid many failures. Collaboration with someone who has taught for many years is a windfall. DAWN’S CURRENT PLAN OF ACTION Weekly professional development by grade level one day in the week during PD time 1. Presents a piece of the literacy strategy they are working with. My comments: Dawn’s response to intervention is certainly on the right track, and will definitely assist her teachers in making some progress. Modeling the lesson will definitely assist her teachers in instruction. In my personal experience, I have found that the true effectiveness of a lesson is most accurately note when it is performed for the students in their own learning setting, by the coach, with the teacher as an â€Å"involved onlooker† In this way the teacher can take notes on how the coach interacts with the students in regards to class-work as well as classroom management. It gives the teacher the opportunity to observe and reflect while teaching is going on. Thus after teaching the lesson, both the coach and the teacher can discuss and reflect on whether or not the students had fully understood what had been taught. 2. Models a lesson using the strategy My comments: Yes! Yes! Yes! I totally agree. However that’s not where it stops. In order to get those students to improve one grade level or more, lots more need to be done. That’s where differentiated instruction comes into play. Dawn needs to make her teachers aware that their Struggling students are indeed at risk or failure, for possibly the lack fundamental skills necessary s to work or read on their grade level. She should encourage her teachers to use any diagnostic reading data that they have available or otherwise perform their own. Although time-consuming, conducting a QR1 (qualitative reading inventory), saves a lot of headache- â€Å"when little Johnny just doesn’t seem to get it†- a QRI will let you know on exactly which reading level he/she is: struggling, instructional or independent. The findings of this type of assessment supports instruction and provides concrete data that teachers could share with the literacy coach, to support the need for proposed intervention various areas, such as phonics instruction, vocabulary and comprehension and adapting curriculum. A teacher knows his/her students and is the best advocate. Ultimately success is accomplished through collaborative efforts of the literacy coach, the classroom teachers and definitely the students. Literacy coaches don’t know it all, and neither do teachers. However, the data provided in the case study is indicative of a strong team, supportive of each other, despite their previous varied teaching assignments. Effective communication is fundamental in planning for effective reading instruction. Knowledge of each student’s instructional and independent levels is beneficial in planning center activities and teacher directed instruction i.e. small groups. 3. Leads a discussion amongst the teachers about the strategy and how it applies to their own classrooms My comments: I like the fact that Dawn elicits teacher response, as to whether or not the modeled strategy would work in their classroom. She is giving them the opportunity to make adjustments and possible adaptations to the instructional delivery. In this forum the can be immediate feedback for clear expectations on both the literacy coach’s par and the teachers’ part. Dawn shows awareness of the diverse learning styles that are contained within a classroom. Here she identifies challenges and allows opportunity to address them. 4. Offers time for teachers to plan to use the strategy in their classroom. Requires teachers to implement the strategy in the upcoming week Bring student work samples to the next session, where they evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy. My comments Dawn makes her teachers accountable, not only for theirs students learning gains, but their own as well. When her teachers can effectively deliver lessons, it will certainly reflect in the reading performance of their students. Through their collaborative efforts dawn and her third grade team are well on their way to achieving their school goal. My Activity/Skills Recommendation Developing a Love for Reading As literacy coach Dawn can provide her teachers with a compile list of reading approaches that they may use to promote reading interest in their classroom, through interaction and involvement with text, thus improve overall reading performance. Instructional procedures will be intensive and include: (i)Purposeful explicit & implicit teaching of concepts (ii)Teacher- student interaction that targets understanding of various text structures-cause & effect, chronological order, (iii)Use differentiated instruction – student will participate in independent as well as teacher-led activities (iv)Student selection of leveled text for home reading. (v)Providing student with clear meaningful explanations and expectations of all tasks Targeting Comprehension Sequence activities will provide â€Å"At Risk† students with opportunity to practice and strengthen their ability to recall specific events as well as retelling text in a more cohesive manner. Vocabulary instruction will focus on words selected from the word lists and selected instructional text to provide instruction in the areas of synonyms, antonyms, affixes, words in c.

Field research is Primary research Essay

I will write short, concise notes. A mix of both types of recording is needed, given the type of primary data wanted at the end of the questioning.  On our fieldtrip we will go to a small area called Ballyhackamore as it is very close to our school and has a very wide range of shops. There are also a lot of people that shop here every week. These people are of a very varied age range and also an even proportion of males and females. We have decided to use field and desk research.  Field research is Primary research.  This means that we go out and collect the information ourselves, so we do not have to sift through many pages of useless information, trying to find out one small piece of information that we could use.  However we will also use desk research. This is where we look at information other people have gathered and use it to our advantage. This includes looking through newspapers, surfing the Internet or going to a library and examining records or books and the Companies Office if they are a limited company. This is going to be used to find out what businesses are in the area and what sort of profit they are making per annum. Market Research – Market research is the process of gaining information about customers, competitors and market trends through collecting primary and secondary data. I will use market research to find the answer to my questionnaire i.e. what sort of business the local people in the Ballyhackamore area thought was missing and what they would like to see in the area. This is Primary research. It is also called Field Research. This will be our Questionnaire. There is also Secondary Research. This involves looking at status from different years about topics and drawing conclusions from it. I could look at maps of Ballyhackamore to make sure I don’t create a business where it is not needed, or indeed duplicate a similar business, unless I feel the demand is there for a second one.  Bank – I am using the bank for the purpose of collecting information about anything financial, from loans to pay for property, mortgage on property and starting the best bank account to suit my circumstances. They will act like a Financial Advisor. I will check Interest Rates and get the best deal. Estate Agents – The estate agents job will be to show me the best available premises to start my business. I will look around many different estate agents until I can find the property and price that suits my business. I will also keep checking in the local press.  Internet – the Internet will be used to show me available properties in the area but also to find out about the competition from rival companies in the area. It will also be used as advertising once the business has been set up. I could use E-Mail to send people information on the business. This may be unsuccessful because people will probably think it is Junk Mail and delete it. Therefore I will not depend on this as my only source of advertising. Newspaper – this will be used while searching for the property but also as advertising after the business has been opened. It will also be used to advertise jobs in the business.  Invest NI -I will talk to Invest NI (the new name for LEDU) about the possibility of both capital and revenue to help until the initial set up phase of my business. Also in the medium to long term I will hope to keep my relationship with Invest NI and be eligible for future grants. Shell Livewire – Shell Livewire is another company, the same as Invest NI that helps businesses to begin and grow. They give grants to entrepreneurs to help them in their quest for a successful business.  After completing all my questionnaires I will now put all my information into a database. I am using a database because I can perform searches on the information I have gathered to try and find exactly what I need to know. I can find different age groups, different sexes and even if the people are married or not. I will be using the database a lot until I discover which business I am going to open. I will then analyse my database and from that, hopefully find out what the public want in the area.    On a search of properties in East Belfast I found there were no available properties in Ballyhackamore that would suit setting up a business. However I did find a lot of buildings in East Belfast that could be possible sites for setting up a business.  I found a sound property on Castlereagh Street.  I also found a property on the Cregagh Road. It is in a good location because this is near Ballyhackamore, however it is an upstairs premises so this could limit the type of people who could visit my business e.g. people in wheelchairs. New legislation coming in the next few years regarding access for the disabled means that an upstairs coffee shop without a lift to the first floor would not be viable.  I have also found a suitable building in Kings Square. This is very close to Ballyhackamore and has a small shopping community itself. This would be a brilliant place for a coffee shop or trendy coffee bar. However on further examination of the area I discovered a coffee shop above a light shop in the Square, but again, access to the first floor could be a problem in the future.

A Recent Economic Article Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A Recent Economic Article - Research Paper Example The article was thereby written to enhance the public’s awareness on the first time that global poverty level has exhibited a decline since the 2005 level. According to the report, much of the decline was to be attributed to the economic progress reflected in China, which disclosed that more than 660 million people were released from the poverty level since 1981. Likewise, it was emphasized that the figures from the report reflected the poorest of the poor, having to contend with subsisting using about $1.25 per day and $2.00 per day, as indicated. C. Personal Verdict: The report was therefore successful in achieve its objective of quantitatively reflecting the decline in the global poverty level using the bar chart and explaining that most of the credit was due from the improved economic conditions in China. As shown, from the 2005 level, there was a decline of 8% in the number of people living below $1.25 per day to its 2008 level. As emphasized, the factors that were contributory to the improved level included improved social programs, counter-cyclical fiscal expansions, and poverty-reduction policies. D. Personal Opinion of the Whole Work: Personally, the results were indeed a fall to cheer or be enthusiastic about since it reflects the seriousness of governments all over the world to address the poverty situations through collaborative economic, fiscal and social programs – which apparently, have succeeded so

David Byrne as a multidisciplinary sound artist Speech or Presentation

David Byrne as a multidisciplinary sound artist - Speech or Presentation Example Recently, his collaboration album with Annie Clark, also known as St. Vincent has won him publicity, called Love Giant. His artistic skills are not only evident in his music, but also in the world of art. His artistic creations that include sound installations are an indication of this. He has also worked as a sculptor and an author. This paper will however focus on his works as a sound installer and as a musician (Semon 2). Musically, Byrne started playing musical instruments at an early age. he also listened to a variety of records by various artists of his time. This showed his immense interest in music, which kept growing with time. By the time he was in high school, he could comfortably play the guitar, accordion, and the violin. It was during his high school times that he started his music career in a duo called Bizadi. In the duo, he worked with a partner called Mark Kehoe. After high school, he attended the Rhode Island School of Design and the Maryland Institute College of A rt, but later dropped out and formed a group called â€Å"The Artistic† with his fellow student Chris Frantz. However, after a year in operation, the band was dissolved. It was Frantz’s girlfriend, Tina Weymouth, whom he co-founded the â€Å"Talking Heads† with in 1975. ... Between 1979 and 1981, he collaborated with Brian Eno in the album called â€Å"My Life in the Bush of Ghosts†. The album attracted considerable critical views since it used the early analogue sampling and found sounds. Sampling in music is the act of using the similar sound recording in a different song or record (DJ 3). Kate Bush described the album as having left a big mark in the popular music world. It was critically described as a pioneer work that would lay foundation for countless styles of music that are connected to electronics, ambience and third world music (Taylor n.p.). Another work by Byrne and Eno was â€Å"Everything That Happens Will Happen Today†. The album â€Å"My Life in the Bush of Ghosts† was re-leased in the year 2006 comprising of several bonus tracks (Miers n.p.). The extensive use of sampling on â€Å"My Life† is considered to be a ground breaking opportunity for all music styles. It was one of the first albums to use sampling e ver in the music industry. The album was recorded during a break between touring for fear of music and the record of remain in light. According to Gittins (12) Byrne declared that during their recordings, they used a normal drum kit, but replaced the bass drum with a card board. They replaced the snare drum with a frying pan. This made it very interesting for the group to make music from extra ordinary instruments. Rei Momo was released in the year 1989 and featured many Afro-Cuban, Afro-Hispanic, and Brazilian song styles that included merengue, Cuban Son, Samba, mambo cumbia, cha-cha-cha, bomba and charanga. Initially the album was released with more tracks on the cassette tape. In some of the pieces, he improved on certain works he had