Era of Good Feelings Essay

The Era of Good Feelings was the title of the period after the war of 1812 between the years of 1815 and 1825. The accuracy of this label however, is not accurate. During this era the United States of America were in a period of economic problems, political turbulence, and a mixture of rapid expansion and division. It is hard to believe that this time period was one of Good Feelings with an economy that kept many people very poor while only a few were able to profit much. In document A, John Randolph addresses congress in 1816. He states that it is unjust, to aggravate the burdens of the people for the purpose of favoring the manufacturers. He is referring to the inequality between the manufacturers or factory owners and the agriculturalists or farmers. Many taxes during this era were placed on the agricultural industry. This taxation left many farmers in the middle and southern colonies struggling. The level of poorness rose for them while in the urban areas factories and corporations that ran them were running in the ring of pleasure and could fatten upon them. In Document B, John Calhoun says, the extent of the republic exposes us to the greatest of calamities disunitywe are rapidly growing this is our weakness and our strengthlet us, then, bind the republic together with a perfect system of roads This suggests the size and distance of our growing nation was going to be another source of disunity. Because of the distance and lack of roads and other means of transportation, communication and trade between regions lessened and they became more distant. Trade was such an important factor in the economy and binding the nation. The reason that this disunity and sectionalism is such a calamity is that the last thing that the United States wanted or could stand to see was rebellion and a break in the Union. Because the agriculturalist label encompassed such a large part of the American population, the inaccuracy of the title of this Era becomes evident. Politics, being a very important topic in this time period, was caught in turmoil and became divided. In 1819, the Supreme Court heard the case between McCulloch and the state of Maryland over the right to create a bank. In Document D, John Marshall rules that states have true sovereignty and that the general government is subordinate to that of the states. This  division creates disunity and breeds sectionalism among states and regions. The disunity created threatened the nation later on and could be blamed for inciting rebellion. In Document G, Anna Hayes Johnson writes to her cousin in North Carolina about the convictions and executions of a number of leaders in her area. In all probability the execution will not end under 100, but I was told yesterday that the prisoners had been heard to say that even should there be 500 executed there would be still enough to carry the work into execution. It does not specify for what they are convicted exactly but I would not consider civil u nrest where hundreds of people are being executed to be a defining feature of an Era of Good Feeling. Earlier the division and expansion within the nation was mentioned; it is a very important factor in this time period. It influences the accuracy of being able to title this era as one of Good Feelings. In Document 1, it is clear that during the years of 1815-1825, the pattern of presidential election outcomes went from an effectively unanimous turnout for James Monroe to a fairly divided one in 1824. In 1824 the New England states were won by John Q. Adams and Andrew Jackson won many of middle and southern states. We can infer from this that sectionalism was forming in different regions of the country, especially between the north and south. In the expansion of the United States westward many people were encouraged or thought to move into these areas for more land, mainly to farm. From Document E, it is clear that the majority of the population was located in the northwest in and around the major cities. This is another division that promoted sectionalism. This expansion would have only strengthened the economy but the disconnection between the city-dwellers in the north and the farmers and plantation owners of the south created further disunity. The Era of Good Feelings was a period of great stress on United States. The economy began separating into distinct groups, one which under congressional tax sanctions grew richer, and the other poorer. Parties and regions began to identify themselves separately and a schism was formed in the union. The dangerous, rapid expansion of the United States also fueled the sectionalist separation which foreshadowed an even larger calamity of rebellion and war. Overall, the time period between 1815 and 1825 could not have been justly or  accurately named The Era of Good Feelings.

Business Communications Report Essay

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the importance of oral communications within the workplace, as well as to identify the aspects and skills that are valued within the workplace. This report will also give recommendations to the problems it highlights. 1. 2. 3 Questions * Is oral communication really a problem among graduates in the workplace? * Which aspects of oral communication are valued more within the workplace? * Which oral communication skills are lacking in graduates within the workplace? * What solutions could we recommend to the NUS management? 1. 3 Scope The ability to express ideas convincingly should therefore be an aspect to be focused on. 3. 4 Need for Clarity of Content The findings have made obvious that clear content is of high priority within the workplace. This oral communication skill is needed because the content is the crux of the message being sent to others and it needs to be clear and concise to avoid confusion. As such this oral communication skill should be focused on. 3. 5 Need for Confidence in Oral Communications The importance of this skill has been noted in the findings. This communication skill complements the other conclusions, as confidence is something that is required for all aspects of oral communications. Clearly, confidence is a skill that should be focused on. 4. Recommendations Based on the conclusions made above, this report recommends changing the NUS curriculum to involve more opportunities to practice oral communications skills, as well as to introduce a public forum, providing chances for all students to speak publicly more. 4. 1 Change in NUS Curriculum This proposal involves a tweaking of all modules in NUS to accommodate even more usage of oral communications skills than at current levels. For example, module marks could be adjusted to allow for more emphasis on presentations or interaction with the lecturer and the class. This would not only allow students to practice their oral communications as a whole, but also improve on specific aspects and skills, like their confidence and clarity. It is noted that this proposal would be difficult to implement and would also take time to adjust to for the entire university. However, this strategy would help all NUS students to improve their oral communications skills greatly over their time in NUS as they are encouraged to work on their oral communications. Thus this would be a long term solution for the problems stated above. 4. 2 Creating Student Forums The Management should also consider utilizing a key aspect of education in NUS: student life. Through providing a forum for students to speak up, especially about issues that the students have passion for, they will get more practice at oral communications. They would also debate and discuss among themselves about such issues, further boosting their proficiency in key skills like being convincing in oral communications. This suggestion does have certain drawbacks, like difficulty in implementing instantly as students are not used to it. However, over time, and with proper promotion and support from student leaders, it could be a good avenue for students to air their views and practice their oral communications skills at the same time.

Business and management Essay

Introductions (Task1) In this task I will talk about the interpersonal and communicational skills, in the task I will demonstrate a role play to identify my interpersonal and communicational skills. After I demonstrate the role play my colleagues will give feedback where I need to improved it, than i will mention how can i improve my interpersonal and communicational skills. Lastly i will mention how key management functions may be met more effectively through the use of key interpersonal and communicational skills. Findings P4) What interpersonal and communication skills can you bring and why? Interpersonal skills are the skills connected with dealing with the people and working with other efficiency to make the business success. Interpersonal skills are used often into business contexts to refer to the measure of a person’s ability to operate within business organisation. Interpersonal skills including:   Working with other harmoniously Evaluating and excepting responsibilities   Understanding measured to respond conflicts   Working in team effectively Working with other harmoniously means we need to make sure the teams are get on with there responsibly and to check them whether if they are working together with out no arguing, it is better individuals to work together to achieve the success of the business. Evaluating and excepting responsibilities means as a manager we have set a target for the employees and they can be used for the individual or teams, the manager has to chase the employees whether if they getting on the responsibilities that is been given individually or as teams, after that the manager has to evaluate the have achieved the target that is been sat if its acceptable or not. Understandings measured the respond of conflicts first full its generally understood that communicating respect other people or professionals within the work place will enable to reduce the conflicts. And increase participations or assistance in obtaining information or completing tasks. Working in team effectively this is one of the important of the interpersonal skills, as a manger we have to check employees are work together as team cooperatively. The business to achieve a success it require employees working together effectively, effective teams are an intermediary goal toward getting goods, sustainable result, and at the end of the if the business become success the employees a accomplish they goals and will share the credit with the business. Communication skills are also skills connected the dealing with the people in the process by which the information exchange. Communications skills used often into business contexts, there are skills related to communication skills, these are: Formal and informal Tone of voice Body language Visual communication Formal or informal style of communication can also be used in written, some pieces of written such as letter or journal tend to be a formal whereas email and popular magazine article tends to be informal. The important thing with communication is to use the right form for the right purpose. Managers needs to think carefully about how to communication the employees appropriately. Tone of voice: Their impress are based on tone and the quality of voice. Verbal communication extends beyond words, audible sound, transfer meaning, in additional tone or attitude communication some times. Body language: Open body stance and positioning invite communication and interaction, whereas the close body stance a positioning impedes communication, using an open body language posture improves the communication with the employees, both managers and employees to learn to read each other body language. Visual communication: People communicate with the ayes as well as the ears. Communication occur cues of body language and facial expression, aye contact is the communication connector, making ayes contact helps confirm attention and interest between the manager and the employees. M2) Based on my experience of the role play, Explain how you could improve your own interpersonal and communicational skills. My role play I am a manager in new retail which owns a business man called Mr Tosh. And I feel that I have a problem to solve when i saw the feelings of the staff are unmotivated and feel that their job is not secure. In the class i discuss with my staff, i sat a SMART to ensure the business get back on track, we agree, me and my staff. One of the our agreement was if you achieve the target that in October if the sales go up 20% i will pay 10% bonus, and if you continue performing well and achieving the goal that we have agreed you job will be secure. Other points that we agreed was. To give continuation training Give bonus (reward the staff if they met the target) Cut the reward (if they done bad, down the sales performance) My interpersonal and communication skills Through the role play in the class, i got a feed back of my interpersonal and communication skills, after i get the recommendation. They suggested me that i need to improve some areas below. In verbal skills- i am not good at controlling my tone of voice in discussion, because i feel when i speak to my staff my English is not good enough. That makes me can not use the vary tone, pace, and loudness to stand out the points when i speaking. Non verbal skills_ my body language, i haven’t performed an aye contact and i haven’t smile in the conversation with my employees; because I my self I haven’t got enough confidence and that make me deal tense in the conversation. Improvement In the tone of voice; if I have varied of tone pace and loudness that can stand out the main points of my speech; that makes my audiences easier to grasp and got interest to listen my speech, in my problem, my English is not good enough to make my speech tense, i should be calm and concentrate first, a think what i have to say before i speak, make more preparation before i speak, and try excise with my tone, pace and loudness at home. My SMART objectives are: Spend 30 minute at each time for preparation before the role play and read newspapers with tone, pace and loudness in another 20 minute every two weeks. If it improvement my speaking skills after practice, that may let me speak more clear smooth and with vary tone, this also improve my English. The non verbal skills_ i haven’t look at staff with smile when i was performing my role play, because i was feeling that i am tense. I looked down when i was talking which may see the staff that i am weak, and not smiling the also may see that i am angry, anxious and not honesty. I should be calm, concentrate and make more preparation, so I set my self a SMART target to let me achieve: Spend 10 min more in preparation for the role play, and do more preparation as I said above, if I make more preparation, i can stay be more relax, calm and confidence than before, so that i can make an aye contact with a smile to the others. Start from now I will practice speak to the people with aye contact and smile when I talk, and i believe it will become a habit, then i can do that without thinking every time when I am suppose to speak. D2) Evaluate ways in which key management functions may be met more effectively through the use of key interpersonal and communicational skills. There are some key management functions, such as management resource, employees’ motivation, performance monitoring, reward and leadership. Those skills i have mentioned above can be met through the use of interpersonal and communication skills, that are the skills managers must be known, the reason is because having identified the roles of management its important to look at the employees’ capable of fulfilling the role and meet the challenges. There are examples below: Employees’ motivation: when we set a plan or target for the employees, we need to motivate then to cooperate and achieve it; employees usually work efficiency when they feel that they have been consulted about their target that they need to achieve. If the employees perform well and achieve the target, we need to reward them with appreciation and persuade them to set a new target. For example in the role play, i have sat a target and encouraged and motivated my staff to achieve it, after i have informed them and discuss what needs to be done, they really feel that they have achieved the target. Those are the interpersonal and communication skills the managers needs to persuade the employees to achieve it. Management resources: the management resource i have chosen to give and example in Human Resource. Sometimes managers may curry out decision the staff might not agree with, in that case manager needs to use interpersonal skills to persuade the employees to agree with him, at the end if the staff can not accepted, that might create conflict and they may curry out industrial action. Managers also need to resolve any conflict that comes up. Skills of management of conflict needed at all levels and all type of organisations. Performance monitoring and reward management needs to have good interview skills, for example an appraisal purpose, this has one technique to encourage them in the interview and make them relax and co-operate with the other staff. This is needs a body language such as tone of voice posture eye contact to suit the interview, if the employees feel relax, it easier to persuade them to achieve the target. The aim of appraisal is to set objective to the employees, usually at the start of the interview, they will look at if the staff achieve the objective set before the next interview, if they achieve the target, them you will pursued them to set another target again and again, at the end of the every quarter the manager have pay bonus to the staff to motivate. If they are not achieve the target the manager needs to persuade the staff to improve the performance or even discipline them they have continue achieve bad performances Introduction (Task2) In this task I will be giving two scenarios of how management activity can raise performance. Mr Tosh believes a good management lies in the planning and monitoring of system in place. For me to pass the second part of the show I will be given and open book time constraint covering the following. To explain how the aims and objectives may be achieved through planning and monitoring. Finding All businesses need to plan and monitored regardless of how small or large they are. For example, possibility plans need to be prepared in the eventuality of a setback which has a direct impact upon the way which the business goes about behaviour its business activities, normally by the same token, the importance of strategic planning for an organisation cannot be stressed enough. The strategic plan acts as a purpose for which the business seizes to exist; it highlights aims and objectives which need to be fulfilled by all the members of staff in order for the company to achieve both its short and long term objectives.   

Why the tuition fee is almost triple for international students Research Paper

Why the tuition fee is almost triple for international students - Research Paper Example Bizarrely, these students study in the same schools and are legible for the same treatment and facilities. This has a dire effect on the education of international schools, especially when they do not have sufficient funds for their schooling. To begin with, the management of schools state that there is limited funding for international students. It is noted that sponsorship programs are limited for international students. Therefore, there is a limited number of international students sponsored by organisations. As such, students that would wish to study in international schools will have to cater for their costs while studying. This is a burden that is directly linked to the international students, which increases the amount of tuition fees. Similarly, international students have to incur costs in payment for each unit (OECD 2). This is to provide the students with enough materials for successful learning. However, many institutions have their various directives on payment per each unit. While the non-international students have their stated amounts to pay, international students will have a different amount. In some schools, the payment per each unit could be exorbitant, as they have to pay up to four times more. This is a hindrance to some international students as they have to limit the number of units they will study. Consequentially, reducing the amount of fees paid per unit would be a disadvantage to the schools.

Cause and effect of media on children and youth Annotated Bibliography

Cause and effect of media on children and youth - Annotated Bibliography Example The short-term exposure to such media increases the likelihood of aggressive thoughts and behaviors. It has been found that the characteristics of viewers, media content, and social environment influence the level to which violent media causes aggression in youth. in the end, it has been suggested that public policy makers, parents, and entertainment communities should play an active role in decreasing the level of media-violence exposure to youth and children. The researchers of this study focused on the impact of media on sexual behaviors and perceptions of children and youth. Using systematic review of the social science and biomedical literature and consulting sexual content of mass media, the effects of exposure on the sexual behaviors and attitudes of adolescents were studied. The results of the study reveal that television is one of the main sources of sexual content for adolescents. Media-literacy programs and parental influence can be used as effective measures to control the exposure of sexual content to adolescents. In this study, the researcher has explored the effects of television violence on children and youth. The researcher has used one hundred and forty-six articles related to behavioral science journals to identify the effects of television violence. Four major issues covered by the research in this study include the question of catharsis, emotional effects, effects on learning, and effects on aggressive behavior. A considerable increase in the aggressive behaviors of children has been found to be the most significant and alarming effect of violent television on children. Media has both positive and negative health effects on children and youth. In this study, the researchers have explored the ways media can have positively and negatively influence the health of adolescents. Excessive use of cell

United Airline history (from 1990 to 2000) Research Paper

United Airline history (from 1990 to 2000) - Research Paper Example â€Å"And if I did [fly with you], I wouldn’t bring my luggage / ‘Cause you’d just go and break it, / Into a thousand pieces, / Just like you broke my heart† (Carroll, n.d.). This is not a love song; it is rather a sad song about a passenger’s bad experience when he boarded the plane managed by the United Airlines. The persona in the song criticizes the â€Å"complete indifference† exhibited by the flight attendants towards him. Entitled United Breaks Guitars, the music piece subtly reveals two facets in the narrative: (1) the passenger’s plight; and (2) the United employee’s lack of professionalism. First, the needs or reasonable complaints of the customers appear to be insignificant to the employees of the United Airlines. This shows the level of treatment in which the United provides its customer-passengers. And second, the United flight attendants apparently fail to behave professionally by reacting to the passenger’s plight with the heartless words â€Å"Don’t ask me.† Communications strategy Smith, Berry, and Pulford (1999), on the other hand, states that the United Airlines has been pondering on the minds of its travellers. For instance, United inquires or explores on the daily activities of its passengers and on the persons whom these customers speak to whenever they book a flight. The underlying principle here is, obviously, the end in which the United Airlines can track and attract numerous costumer-passengers. The problem, however, is that United is more concerned with obtaining and gaining a number of customers rather than in providing satisfactory services towards them. Moreover, the focus on the traveller has a drawback to the personnel who book the flight and other United employees associated to booking and travel policy. Smith et al. (1999) argue that these people (e.g., travel agents) have the capacity to â€Å"influence over the choice of airline† made by the cu stomer-travellers. It is empirical for the travel agents, they say, to possess a much more detailed information about â€Å"routes, schedules and prices† in order to better serve their customers (Smith et al., 1999). Technology It appears that the United Airlines cares less to the passenger’s plight and more to the company’s ways of gaining more traveller-customers. Kelly (1999) writes about the United’s parallel processing technology wherein it functions as a machinery in â€Å"forecast[ing] demand† and thereby increases the company’s profit. According to a study, the United Airlines dramatically accumulates a large amount of profit from such technology by as much as $100 million per year (Kelly, 1999). Named as IBM RS/6000, the technology operates through an analysis or calculation from the given data in order to determine the passenger-demand forecast. In using this technology, United only looks and focuses on the flight â€Å"paths† of a particular travel route in contrast to its flight â€Å"legs† (Kelly, 1999). That is to say, the path that is to be analyzed or computed, from the Boston-to-Los-Angeles flight route with a stopover in Chicago, is the Boston-to-Los-Angeles path. The signifier â€Å"legs† signifies the short route (i.e., stopover) from state to state while the term â€Å"paths† refers to the ultimate destination of the passenger-traveller from one state to another. On employees Blacks The United Airlines composes employees of different colors; of the many colors, the Black stands high and bright. For one, there are numerous African Americans working in O’Hare International Airport situated in the state of Chicago. Most of them are United’

The pressure and the result Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The pressure and the result - Research Paper Example The resistance in these areas can be attributed to the rebel groups retaliating to the violence and the unfair treatment that their governments get from the US, especially in terms of the control of valuable resources such as oil deposits. Also, the passive nature of the US government in providing sanctions with regards to its own citizens in insulting and mocking other cultures caused the deaths of one of its ambassadors to Libya. This goes to show that while the US government keeps controlling the OPEC’s in a dehumanizing way bloodshed will not stop in these countries. It would be of best interest in both parties that the US government recognize the ability of these Middle Eastern countries in settling their own disputes, educate its citizens in the human rights that the Middle Eastern populations deserve, as well as not branding all Muslims as terrorists, and adjust their policies on the OPEC’s. The Results of Western Pressures on Middle Eastern Countries The US has been known to have major control over the oil-producing countries in the Middle East since around the years a bit before and after the end of the Second World War, and this control has extended even beyond the oil refineries and into the socio-political environment of these countries. Initially taking over these petroleum-producing countries started out as a task that was handed out by former European empires such as the French and the British monarchies, due to their losing ground in seizing full control of the petroleum industries of the countries that handle and export them (Huntington, 1993, p. 31). However, when the prospect of getting hold of the world’s large suppliers of petroleum and other by-products gave the policy-makers in the US ideas of having power over them, it occurred to them that it was possible not just to take hold over the flow of the petroleum products but also manipulating the leaders in these countries in creating policies that would mostly benefit t he US, but without covertly seizing hold of the countries themselves. When the US took hold of these oil refinery plants, it gave an idea to its leaders and the general public that because the country has control over these Organizations of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), they are also in control with the social and political environments in these countries, making the US their unofficial world police/peace negotiator/mediator, so far as OPEC’s are concerned. However, such views only added pressure to these countries, as well as undermining their own capacities to rule and prevent or solve conflicts within their adjacent countries and kingdoms (Forsyth, O'Boyle, & McDaniel, 2008, p. 816). In addition, through the eyes of the US citizens, the needs, ideas and traditions of the people living in these countries were deemed insignificant, making the Middle East countries seen only as a group of nations that cater to their large demand of petroleum products (Chomsky, 2004, p . 74). Dehumanizing these countries created pressure between the US and the OPEC’s, which became one of the roots of the seemingly-unending conflicts that not only affect the social and political stability in these nations, but also their moral standpoint as far as the rest of the world is concerned. The retaliation of these countries with regards to how the US maintains control over them and their natural resources became struggles that earned the reputation of Middle Eastern countries as rebels, tyrants, and even terrorists, which are in reality

Hospitals and Medicine in the American Civil War 1861-1865 Research Paper

Hospitals and Medicine in the American Civil War 1861-1865 - Research Paper Example Many women volunteered to become nurses during the civil war, which was an indication of their strength to care for the men who were out fighting. In the military hospitals, the duties of the nurses were usually domestic. They prepared and served meals, making sure that they accommodated every patient’s diet. The doctors were the determinants whether a patient was to receive a low, half or full diet. Nurses had to maintain track of every patient’s meal. In addition, nurses were supposed to supply linens and clothing to the soldiers. The nurses participated in surgeries by providing emotional support to the soldiers during the surgery process. They participated in talking, writing and reading for the soldiers in order to give them emotional support. In most hospitals, the nurses were sisters, who came from different religious orders. Civil war nurses used to wear dark colors, usually black or brown color, which was a requirement by the government. The dresses were design ed to serve the function and were not meant for fashion. During the civil war, the hospitals were under staffed. Physicians had a variety of medications at their reach to treat injured and sick soldiers. Some of the medications that they used are used even today. Many medications were effective but crude; others had a placebo effect only. Anesthetics were commonly used during the civil war and mostly in amputations. ... The hospitals did not have well trained doctors since during that period; there were no medical schools to train the doctors. The few doctors who had acquired medical knowledge were not adequately trained to perform most of the required performance for treatment. In the hospitals, there were no antibiotics because, at the time, medical technology had not developed. Doctors relied mostly on herbal medicine in prescribing treatments. The doctors did not sterilize or clean wounds during medication. The hospitals were mainly not housed, and most of the treatments and services were provided outside. The nurses, who worked with the doctors, were also untrained and were mainly sisters professing different religions. Most of the nurses worked under volunteer ship. Doctors treated patients on the ground without worrying about the dirty condition or the environment. Most people developed infections after surgery, and this condition was referred as surgical fever. Hospital systems, which provid e hospital care to the patients, had not been developed. X-rays, blood typing and modern health tests and procedures did not exist. Before the civil war, there were no military hospitals. When the civil war broke, it was deemed necessary to have hospitals where soldiers and other patients received treatments. During the time, many buildings and institutions were converted in to hospitals. Some of the major hospitals during the time were Campbell Hospital, Armory Square Hospital, Harewood Hospital and Reynolds Barracks Hospital. These hospitals received many patients despite, the problems that they faced. Surgery was the commonest treatment for wounds, despite the low chance for survival. Before the civil war, the number of doctors who had ever performed

Our Interactions With Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Our Interactions With Media - Essay Example Fun is derived if one has played the sport before. Despite being a family, it was easier to use it for since it’s a game that they used to play and they are passionate about it. The three selected are all females. The mother is a nurse in a nearby hospital and the niece has just graduated as an accountant. The daughter is in the secondary level learning. Observations As they played the wii sport computer game, it was very evident that the all enjoyed the game and as the nature of the game is that full concentration is a must for fun derivation. Two players were playing at a time and whoever wins plays with the next. It was really painful for one to stay out as she waited for her next turn. The nature of the game is such that one would wish to play again and again. The golf version was the one they enjoyed the most and whenever the ball missed the hole one could even stand up and throw away the remote control since that will mark cumulatively the end of the game for her. On the other hand, whoever was on the winning side could celebrate and rejoice. The mother was like the expert and she was not knocked out at any given time. It was her daughter and the niece whom were constantly knocked out interchangeably. It reached a time where the mother was no longer celebrating even after winning since it was becoming boredom on her side. She decided finally allowed the two young stars to face out. This was the most interesting bit since everyone at their discretion hoped to outdo the other. The pain to lose here was much and the first round the daughter won. She could not believe. The niece at some point could celebrate in style that irritated the daughter. After the whole session of serious play, I asked them some questions. Of the five questions I had the answers to two of which I considered too obvious. The person whom was perceived the best of the three was the mother. I asked of them and it was clear that the more one play the better and sharper they became. It was likely that the mother had played the wii sport for quite a long duration of time. The mother’s response to questions was precise and it depicted a lot of maturity. A question that called for response from all the three was a bit technical since the two children were a bit hesitant in their responses as compared to the mother. The similarity of the responses from the two children in my own perspective was greatly attributed to the age factor. This also brought the difference with their mother because of the great age gap. The differences were interesting since I expected the children to participate fully in the answering of the questions given that they are the ones who seemed to be carried away with the computer game than the mother. The question to whether they would like to play the game again and again was responded d to differently and by this I think it was because the difference in the stage of human development and also other pre-occupational factors. Critical theory is a school of thought which stresses on the reflective assessment and critique of society and culture by applying knowledge from the social sciences and the humanities. The setup created a reflective situation that brought in proper analisation of the computer games. As a term, critical theory has two meanings with different origins and histories: the first originated in sociology and the second originated in literary criticism, whereby it is used and applied as an all in one term that can describe a theory founded

Colony Collapse Disorder Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Colony Collapse Disorder - Case Study Example However, while the factors which cause this syndrome have been speculated upon for many years, there is yet to be a conclusive answer to the question of what is the cause of these disappearances. While this may be the case, ongoing research into the matter has come to show that there is a possible connection between the use of a diverse number of pesticides by farmers which may have a negative effect on bees because they cause their deaths. It is a fact that when the CCD takes place, scientists and bee farmers are never able to determine the cause of this disorder because of the fact that their occurrences tend to be so slow that they are barely noticed until it is too late. Because of this, it has become imperative that beehives in all the countries that are affected to be kept under constant observation so that the exact cause of the problem can be determined and in the process remedied. While it is a fact that the exact cause of CCD is not known, among the biggest suspects that have come to public notice has been the use of pesticides, which are believed to be contributing factors to the problem. Scientists state that the use of pesticides and possibly some fungicides may have been of lethal effect on bees, not killing them immediately but instead weakening their development and behaviour. Among the pesticides which have been of most interest to scientists studying CCD occurrences are the insecticides known as neonicoticoids, which contain chemicals that may have a negative effect on bees. These chemicals tend to be used in seed treatment in the process, they tend to work their way up through the plant into the latter’s flowers where they end up occurring in the nectar. As a result of the bees consuming the nectar containing chemicals from neonicoticoids over a long period of time, these chemicals, while not instantly lethal, may have other adverse effects on the bee population consuming them. It has been found that almost all the corn in the United States that has been genetically engineered contains some form of neonicoticoids, since the latter are used in their treatment. In addition to this, it has been found that these types of insecticides tend to occur in the soil of the fields near where the genetically modified corn has been planted (Vaughan & Black, 2008). Therefore, it has been speculated that these forms of insecticides may get consumed by bees indirectly through the plants which occur in such fields and this may, in fact, be a major cause of the CCD occurrence in bee populations. Scientists researching CCD have speculated that the use of antibiotics and miticides may have an effect on the sudden disappearances of bee populations. Research concerning this idea has been conducted extensively and many beekeepers who have been affected by CCD that have been interviewed have stated that they indeed make use of antibiotics and mi ticides among their bee colonies. The results of these investigations by scientists have, however, not been conclusive because of the fact that it is not known what specific antibiotics or miticides that are used may be the cause of the problem (Watanabe, 2008). The use of such chemicals has not been determined to be a definite cause of CCD because there tends to be a lack of uniformity concerning exactly what particular chemicals are used by beekeepers, hence doubts have been cast about whether only one

Organizational chart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Organizational chart - Essay Example Organizational Structure of Cambridge Memorial Hospital is basically the framework that easily defines the formal reporting relationships between the different levels of management of any organization. Cambridge Memorial Hospital's organization structure is the mechanism that also operationalizes the management more effectively and efficiently of the organization. In the context of the Cambridge Memorial Hospital, organizational structure also refers to the different levels of the management within the hospital. It also defines the hospital's chain of command. (William, Kondra, Vibert, 2004) The above figure demonstrates very well that how the Cambridge Memorial Hospital's organizational structure is working. As mentioned in the above figure, the top most are the important one who plays an important role in the hospital's (Cambridge Memorial Hospital) organizational structure. Decisions are no doubt taken by collaboration but the final decisions are taken by the heads. There is a string linkage between the heads and the supervisors. They collaborate with each other, work in groups and decide things and different issues. The organizational structure of hospital is no doubt important, because all the management based issues and decisions are taken with the help of the organizational structure. If the structure is strong then results would be beneficial for the corporation. (William, Kondra, Vibert, 2004) The list of CMH board of directors is as follow: Chairperson Mr. Robert Purdy. Vice Chair Mr. Michael Ritchie. Secretary Ms Linda LeBourdais. Treasurer Mr. dough Lee. Ms. Mary Adamson. Ms. Natalie Bodnar. Ms. Susan Brown. Hospital Board Rep Mr. Robert Cunningham. Hospital CEO Ms. Julia Dumanian. Mr. Heather Ferber. Mr. Fred gaskin. Hospital Chief of staff Mr. Cathy Morris. Ms. Milena Protich. METHODS OF DEPARTMENTALIZATION IN CMH Departmentalization basically refers to the process of grouping different activities into different departments. In CMH various activities are grouped according to the different functions. Various departments are sales department, HR department, marketing department, accounting department and management department. The departmentalization of the Cambridge memorial hospital began along with the establishment of the four major clinical departments, which are Obstetrics and Gynecology, medicine, Pediatrics and Surgery. Departmentalization by function is also an important part for this hospital because this is the way with the help of which this hospital can maintain all the functions properly. Departmentalization is also based on all the operating functions. Every single operating function of this hospital is responsible for the better departmentalization. (William, K

Knowledge and Emotion Essay Example for Free

Knowledge and Emotion Essay Emotion plays a big role in gaining knowledge even though when we do not realize it. Therefore, I agree with the quote, There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. by Arnold Bennett, an English novelist. First of all, with the part, There can be no knowledge without emotion1, it can be proved by our experience. For example, we know about plate tectonics but until you feel it, you cant have knowledge. Earthquakes prove that the plate tectonics are moving towards each other, away from each other or slide past each other. Since I live in Japan, earthquakes can be felt often and I have the knowledge of what it is like to be in an area with lots of earthquakes. Also, for example, we can prove that we have knowledge from genes. Sometimes, I feel that I have the same characteristic as my mother when I am talking to my pets. I talk with them in a softer voice than when we talk to other people. Also, my mothers family loves animals and I was also brought up with an animal always beside me. Finally I can also see evidence from learning physics. I learned that the energy is transferred into other energies. Before, I wondered why bouncy balls bounced lower each time. When I learned about the energies, I gained the knowledge that the potential energy was transferred into heat, sound and other energies. From gaining these truths and experiencing it, it gives us knowledge of what it is like. By experiencing these things, it influences our emotion and gives us the knowledge. Though some people disagree that knowledge can be gained without emotion, I argue that the statement is not true. Though when you learn something, until you have realized what it is and accepted the information, then it is not knowledge. We have to know the information to gain the knowledge so to gain the knowledge we have to experience it. For example, I know the truth that floods occur and the consequences as well as the effects of it but since I have not experienced it before, I do not have the knowledge of what it is like to be in an area, which flooded. Furthermore, by learning biology, I know that there are diseases such as thrombosis, a blood clotting disease but since I have not experienced it I do not what it feels like to have thrombosis. As a result, I do not yet have the knowledge. Knowledge can be gained by other ways of knowing such as reason, sense perception and language. Though I agree with this, I think these all involve the ways of knowing of emotion. When we have a reason to gain knowledge, we gain the knowledge by realizing it and experiencing it. When we gain knowledge by sense perception it is done by experiencing something and realizing what is going on in our surroundings. Finally for language, we are experiencing it since we are talking or listening to the language. Since all these involve the action of experiencing, it all involves emotion. If someone did things unconsciously, I wonder if they can get knowledge. People who sleepwalk have been seen eating, dressing, driving cars, and many other things. Their brain is not fully shut down. Sleepwalking occurs before they are in the state of rapid eye movement, or the moment they are dreaming.2 They have their eyes open to recognize their surroundings. Therefore, I think they are using their sense perception when they are sleepwalking. Though they may not remember it when they wake up and get confused but I think their brain remembers it since the brain is not fully shut when people sleepwalk. Therefore knowledge is gained from experiencing things even if they are sleepwalking which is done unconsciously. Reflexes are also done unconsciously. They are done because we have the knowledge of what to do best to have the least damage to ourselves. That is why we pull our hands back when we touch something hot to reduce the possibility of burning our hand. We try to reduce it because we have the knowledge of what is going to happen if we do not. If we do not take our hand back, we know we are going to burn our hand and feel the pain. When I wake up, I have the reflex of stopping the alarm clock because I have the knowledge that I have to wake up to go to school. This reflex was done because I had the emotion that I did not want to go to school since I had to wake up at six oclock in the morning. Therefore as a conclusion, I agree to an extent with the quote by an English novelist, Arnold Bennett of There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. Emotion is connected to the other ways of knowing and everything we do in our lives. Experiencing things give knowledge to us which gives us emotion whether we do things consciously or unconsciously.

The Salafi Movement In Global Context Theology Religion Essay

The Salafi Movement In Global Context Theology Religion Essay Salafism (al-Salafiyyah) is a contemporary Islamic global movement, which is concerned with a search for the pure teachings of Islam as prescribed in the Quran and the Prophet Muhammads tradition (sunnah) by rejecting any external influences and human involvement in the interpretation of religious texts. The proponents of Salafism define themselves to be the inheritors of the pre-modern Ahl al-Hadits (people of the Prophet tradition). In their view, this school of thought was the only group that remained faithful to the pure teachings of Islam as prescribed in the Quran and the Sunnah so that it was considered the saved sect. They base their claim on a hadith (the Prophet Muhammad sayings) that the Prophet Muhammad was reported to have said that there would always be a group of his people who remained committed to the truth, whom the Salafis identify as the Ahl al-Hadith (Duderija, 2011). By claiming to be the inheritors of the Ahl al-Hadith and followers of its footsteps, the propon ents of contemporary Salafi movement attempt to assert that they have privilege and take pride to be the guardians of the pure Islam in modern period. The proponents of contemporary Salafism identify themselves, and are proud to be, as salafi (plural: salafiyyin), the followers of al-salaf al-shalih(the righteous ancestors). For them, the term salaf refers to the first three Muslim generations in the early Islam, who were considered as the best Islamic generations as they were directly guided by the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions. This self-ascription is based on their belief that their understanding and practicing Islam is in complete accordance with the footsteps and methodology of the salaf (manhaj al-salaf). Abdullah ibn Baz, one of the main Salafi authorities, said that Salafi ideology is derived from the Quran, Sunnah and Consensus (ijma`) which govern the method of acquiring din [religion] and understanding the Quran and Sunnah according to the principles agreed upon by the righteous predecessors (salaf) (Cited in Duderija, 2011:54). Due to this strong emphasis on the Salaf as the only model of understanding and practic ing Islam, Salafism can be said as a movement of return to the forefather (Marshallsay, 2004). Major Authorities of the Contemporary Salafi Movement Within contemporary Salafi movement, the most influential proponents are the Middle Eastern Muslim scholars with Saudi nationality or Saudi-educated, university educated, many gained PhDs in Islamic sciences from Saudi universities. These include Nashir al-Din al-Albani (d.1999), Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz (d. 1999), Muhammad ibn Shalih al-Uthaymin (d. 2001), Muqbil ibn Hadi al-Wadii (d. 2001), Rabi ibn Hadi al-Madkhali (b. 1931), Yahya al-Hajuri, and Shalih al-Fawzan. The dominance of Saudi Arabian or Saudi-educated religious scholars (ulama) asserts the centrality of Saudi Arabia as the birth of modern Salafism. As the main representative of the Salafi movement, these ulama become major references that Salafi leaders and ordinary followers in the Muslim world turn to for guidance and advice in their lives. Outside the Middle East, leading personalities of Salafism in Western countries such as Jamal Zarabozo and Bilal Philips (Duderija, 2011) mostly become the mouthpiece of these Middle East authorities, translating their Salafi messages for the Western Salafi followers. The same is true for the leaders of the Salafi movement in Indonesia. Most of them went to Saudi and Yemen universities or Islamic religious learning institutions (mahad) to study Islamic knowledge. These include Abu Nida, Ahmad Faiz, Yusuf Baisa, Jafar Umar Thalib, Ayip Syafrudin, Luqman Baabduh and Muhammad Umar Sewed (Hasan, 2007; 2009). Compared to their locally trained Salafi proponents, these Middle East graduates commonly enjoy more authority and recognition from their followers due to their highly-esteemed learning in Mecca or Medinah, two holy cities of Islam. Yet, all of these Salafi exponents make the Saudi and Yemeni Salafi authorities as major, and to some extent, the only references in learning and preachi ng Salafi ideas among Indonesian Muslims. The Middle East Salafi authorities write treatises on Salafi ideas exclusively in Arabic. But, this is not a major barrier for Salafi followers from non-Arabic speaking countries to understand the messages of these Salafi ulama. The Salafi followers and sympathizers have attempted to translate the works of these Salafi ulama into local languages. For this purpose, in Western countries, they have established publishing houses, including Tarbiyyah Publications in Toronto, Invitation to Islam and Al-Khilafat Publications in London, and Salafi Publications and Maktabah Darussalam in Birmingham. Mobilizing the information and communication technologies, they have created websites such as www.salafipublications.com, www.tarbiyyahbookstore.com, http://sunna.com, www.salaf.com, and www.fatwa-online.com. Individual Salafi authorities websites have been also established by the Salafi supporters, such as www.binbaz.com (on the works of Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz), www.rabee.net (on the works of Rabi i bn Hadi al-Madkhali), and www.ibnothaimeen.com (on the works of Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymin) (Duderija, 2011). The Puzzle of the Origin and Meaning of Salafism For decades, there has been conviction among Western and Western-educated scholars that history of Salafism is a history of Islamic modernism; that Salafi ideas are regarded as similar to those of Islamic modernist movement; and the Salafis are representatives of Muslim modernist. It is believed that Salafism dates back to the 19th Islamic modernism, which was associated with Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (d. 1897), Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905), and Rashid Ridha (d. 1935), whose principles and ideas include rejection of taqlid (blind following), promotion of ijtihad (independent interpretation), and support of progress and rationality in its responses to the decline of the Muslim world. As Lauziere (2010) identifies, this conception can be seen in the standard academic works of Islamic thought such as Brills Encyclopedia of Islam, Malcolm Kerrs Islamic Reform (1966), M. A. Zaki Badawis The Reformers of Egypt (1978), and Daniel Browns Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought (1996). Some recent studies by scholars of contemporary Islam, such as Ali Hassan Zaidi (2006) and Dumber and Tayob (2011), also connect Salafi orientations with Muslim reformists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, this conception is problematic in some respects. First, there is no convincing evidence to the claim of the connection among Salafism, al-Afghani, and Abduh. According to Lauziere (2010), there are no primary sources including al-Urwat al-Wuthqa, a flagship journal of al-Afghani and Abduh, that substantially prove the claim that al-Afghani and Abduh coined the term Salafism and used it to identify themselves and their reform movement in the 19th century. It is true that Abduh mentioned the term al-Salafiyyin (the Salafis) in Al-Manar (Al-Manar 5, 1902 cited in Lauziere 2010) to designate Sunni Muslims who were against Ashariyyah, a 10th century school of speculative Islamic theology,  [1]  in terms of theological issues based on their strict adherence to the creed of the forefathers (Lauziere, 2010). But, Abduh clearly did not claim to be a Salafi nor identified his followers as Salafis. He simply referred al-Salafiyyin in the context of theological debates as Sunni Musl ims who differed from Asharites based on their strict adherence to aqidat al-salaf (the creed of the forefather) (Lauziere, 2010). Moreover, Rasyid Ridha, one of Muhammad Abduhs main disciples, recognized the fundamental differences between Salafism and Islamic modernist school, which his mentor promoted. According to Ridha, following the Salafi creed did not necessarily make one committed to Islamic modernist school. During his time, Ridha identified Salafism as Wahhabism to which he called al-Wahhabiyyah al-Salafiyyah. Later, in 1928 he and some of his disciples declared their passage to becoming Salafis not only with respect to Islamic theology but also in fiqh or Islamic jurisprudence (Lauziere, 2010). Second, the unconfirmed claim of ideological connection between contemporary Salafism and the early 20th century Islamic modernism can be seen in the issue of how each defines the term Salaf. While the two movements shared the idea of the importance of the pious ancestors, they differ in the issue of to what extent the Salaf is defined and how it should be modelled. The proponents of Islamic modernism conceived that the term Salaf includes virtually the Muslim scholars of all schools of thought in the medieval period whose success and achievements should be contextually propagated and imitated within modern Muslim contexts. The early 20th century Salafism understood the Salaf as Muslim scholars in religious science as well as in secular science of the golden age of Islam in the medieval period that should be contextually followed. In contrast, the proponents of contemporary Salafism restrict the Salaf to the first three generations in the early Islam, namely the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (al-shahabat), those after them (al-tabiin) and the next generation after them (atba`u al-tabiin). They also include religious scholars (ulama`) in the first and second centuries of Islam who were considered to adhere to the way of these first three Muslim generations, particularly Ahmad bin Hanbal and the followers of his textual school. These Salaf generations and Salafi ulama` were considered rightly guided forefathers and, hence, role models to whom Muslims are obliged to follow their ways in any circumstances. In addition, when the proponents of contemporary Salafism speak about the Salaf, they use it in its narrow religious sense. Practically, they exclude, show suspicion and hostility towards social, cultural and scientific heritage of the Muslim forefathers. In their view, the perfect method of modelling the S alaf in the contemporary Muslim societies is preserving and imitating their footsteps without contextualizing them in the present contexts. Third, the issue of the unconfirmed ideological connection between Salafism and the late 19th century Islamic modernism can be discerned in differences between them with respect to methodology and objectives. In response to the decline of the Islamic world, the Islamic modernism of al-Aghani and Abduh was committed to islah (reform) in Muslim society through promotion of itidal (moderation and balance) by which Muslims were expected to conduct conciliation between Islam and Western civilization. It encouraged the appreciation and adoption of social, political and scientific achievements of Western civilization and at the same rooted firmly in Islamic principles and civilization. In other words, al-Afghani and Abduhs Islamic modernism was a moderate approach to Islam and Western civilization in that it was able to balance between revelation and reason, and between strict Islamic conservatism and blind following of the West (Lauziere, 2010). Contemporary Salafism, in contrast, aims to revive the golden age of Islam by adhering strictly to the ways of the first three Muslim generations in the early Islam understood and practiced Islam to protect its purity from forbidden religious innovation. From this perspective, the making of the Salaf as a perfect model requires strict applying the Salaf method in social and cultural vacuum, without contextualizing their ideas and practices within present contexts of the Muslim world. Subsequently, this movement regards revealed texts as the only primary sources so that its proponents tend to be anti-rationalistic approach to revelation. The proponents of contemporary Salafism are also suspicious of anything not textually written in the scripture, taught or done by the Prophet Muhammad, his companions and religious scholars adhered to their ways. Conservatism, or even ultra conservatism, is highly represented in contemporary Salafi movement. As a result, there is no adequate evidence to claim ideological connection between the late 19th and early 20th centurys Islamic modernism and the contemporary Salafi movement. There is no support that Al-Afghani and Abduh proclaimed they were Salafis or exponents of the Salafi movement or their ideas were in accordance with contemporary Salafism. The modernist conception of Salafism substantially differs from the contemporary Salafisms understanding of the same term. Within contemporary Salafi movement, salafism is conceived first and foremost as label by Sunni purist-literalist-traditionalists to designate their particular approach to Islam. Conceptual History of Salafism Undoubtedly, the uncertainty of the origin and meaning of Salafism within modern scholarship has caused the substance of Salafism remain puzzling. Fortunately, a recent study by Henri Lauziere (2010) is helpful in solving this puzzle and gaining relative certainty in the issues of the origin and meaning of Salafism. He argues that the puzzle of the meaning and origins of Salafism is attributable to the faulty scholarship and the fact that there is little scholarly attention to the examination of the history of knowledge production of Salafism (Lauziere, 2010:369). The First Use of the Term Salafism Historically speaking, Salafism as a religious orientation is not purely a modern phenomenon. Rather, it rooted in the Islamic scholarship in pre-modern history of Islam. The early use of the term Salafism (Salafiyyah) as an approach to religious texts is found in a number of religious scholars works in the medieval period. For example, Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1238) writes in his al-Fatawa al-Kubra: As for the Salafiyya it is as [Hamd ibn Muhammad] al-Khattabi and Abu Bakr al-Khatib [al-Bagdadi] and other have stated: The way of the Salaf is to interpret literally the Quran verses and hadiths that relate to the Divine attributes (ijra ayat al-sifat wa ahadits al-sifat ala zahiriha), and without indicating modality and without attributing to Him anthropomorphic qualities. So that one is not to state that the meaning of hand is power or that of hearing is knowledge (Cited in Haykel, 2009:38). However, as Haykel (2009) and Dumbe Tayob (2011) suggest, the historical precedent of the Salafi orientations even dates back earlier to the 9th century theological and juridical debates between the Ahl al-Ray (people of opinion), which was associated with the Mutazilah,  [2]  and Ahl al-Hadith (people of the Prophet Muhammads tradition), which was related to Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855), the inspirer of the Hanbali school of law (Hanbaliyyah).  [3]  Particularly, the early use of the term Salaf and its derivatives in this period can be traced back to the Ahl al Hadits. It is reported that Ibn Hanbal said: It has been transmitted from more than one of our ancestors (salafina) that they said the Quran is the speech of God and is uncreated, and this is what I endorse. I do not engage in speculative theology and I hold that there is nothing to be said other than what is in Gods Book (Quran), the traditions of His messenger or those of his companions and their followers- may God have mercy on them. It is not praiseworthy to engage in theological discussion in matters not contained therein (Cited in Haykel, 2009:38). These statements not only refer to the early use of the terms Salaf and Salafism within Islamic scholarship, but also points out the way of thinking that the early Salafis advocated in regard to theological issues such as the nature of the Quran as Gods messages revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. With respect to the approach to the interpretation of religious texts, the Ahl al-Ra`y represented Muslims scholars who sought explanations from personal opinions and borrowings from other cultures and intellectual traditions, while the Ahl al-Hadits sufficed themselves with literal meanings of the texts and tradition of the Prophet and his companions believed as pure and original sources of Islam. Another corresponding term, madhhab al-salaf (the school of forefathers), is found in the literature of Muslim scholars of medieval period. As Lauziere (2010:372) suggests, written sources also indicate that medieval Muslims scholars used this term primarily in the theological debates within early schools of theology in Islam. The notion of madhhab al-salaf was used to designate those who hold a theological purity in a time when early Muslims were not faced yet with speculative theology (ilm al-kalam) resulted from the encounter of Islam and other world civilizations. The proponents of madhhab al-salaf showed hostility towards Islamic speculative theology (ilm al-kalam) which was influenced by Greek inspiration and rationalism such ilm al-mantiq (syllogistic logic) and falsafah (philosophy). Contrary to Islamic theologians (mutakalimin) such as Mutazilis and Asharites, the people of the madhhab al-salaf distanced themselves from intellectualizing the divine issues, such as al asma` w al sifat (the divine names and attributes). However, the word Salafi or Salafism was not commonly used by medieval purist Muslims to refer to themselves and their approach to Islam. Instead, the common epithets used to refer to the purists at the period were not derived from the word salaf, but rather from the terms associated with the Prophet Muhammads tradition, such as Ahl al-Sunnah (people of the prophetic tradition), Ahl al-Hadist (people of prophetic sayings and sayings) or al-Atsari (the follower of the prophetic report) (Lauziere, 2010:373). The Origin of the Confusion of Salafism: Louis Massignon and the Salafyah Review A recent study by Lauziere (2010) revealed the origin of the confusion between Salafism and Islamic modernism in scholarly literature. He argues that puzzle of Salafism lies in the fact Massignon and scholars who quoted him were not aware of the complex development of the Salafi epithets within Muslim scholars in the Middle East. They simply relied on al-Majallah al-Salafiyyah, a monthly reformist journal published by Salafiyya Bookstore in Egypt -whose key role in Salafi discourses will be examined in the following section- that reached overseas including Paris. Being established in 1917, the journal was edited by Abd al-Fattah Qatlan and rendered by him into English as Salafyah Review. The journal was purported to serve as a marketing vehicle for reaching a wider readership of the Salafiyyah Bookstore. More importantly, the journal was created in the period in which the reform spirit overwhelmed the Salafiyyah Bookstore before the coming of the Saudi-Wahhabi influence on the type o f literature it published. So, in line with the reform spirit, the journal aimed to spread the achievements of the pious ancestors (al-salaf) in a wide range of scientific, cultural and intellectual fields. In line with this spirit, the content of the journal encompassed various themes such as literature, linguistics, and astronomy in addition to religious topics (Lauziere, 2010:379). It was through this journal that the term Salafism caught the attention of Western scholars (Lauziere, 2010). Louis Massignon, a well-known French orientalist and the major contributor to the leading journal Revue du monde musulman, subscribed to Arabic journals including al-Majallah al-Salafiyyah. When the first issue of the journal reached his journal office, Massignon provided explanation of the Majallah al-Salafiyyah to the readers of his journal. He said that the Salafiyyah was an intellectual movement that emerged in early 19th century India at the time of Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi (d. 1931) [and] Siddiq Hasan Khan (d. 1890), the founder of the Ahl-i Hadith movement, had later rehashed its ideas (Cited in Lauziere, 2010:380). Then, he added that from there, [the Salafiyyah] was spread by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Syaikh Abduh and established itself in Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo and even in the Maghrib and Java (Revue du monde musulman 34, 1916-18 in Lauziere, 2010:380). But, later M assignon abolished the connection of the Salafiyyah with the 19th century Indian movement and focused more on its link with al-Afghani and Abduh. Then, he associated Salafiyyah with a relatively transnational Islamic modernism in the 19th century, whose proponents were committed to reform in Islam and Muslim societies (Lauziere, 2010). However, Massignons claim of Salafism is problematic as it raised questions with respect to conceptual and historical foundations of Salafism he based on. It is not clear how he came to this claim though it is known that he studied Islam in Baghdad and made contacts with some reform-oriented Muslim scholars like Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi. Due to this, it can be said that Massignon misinterpreted the term Salafiyyah and inadequately made Salafism and Islamic modernism of al-Afghani and Abduh synonymous (Lauziere, 2010). Nevertheless, as Lauziere (2010:381) shows, some leading scholars welcomed Massignons definition of Salafism and even took its validity for granted despite its factual limitations. The famous The New World of Islam, published in 1921, repeated this misinterpretation when made reference to Salafiyyah. In 1922, the leading journal The Moslem World published by Hartford Seminary did the same when it translated an article of Massignon from the Revue du monde musulman. This is further misinterpreted by Henri Laoust, a scholar who spread Massignons ideas in French, when in his seminal article in 1932 defined Salafism based on Massignons conception. Even influential scholar Sir Hamilton Gibb took Massignons claim of Salafism for granted in his famous Modern Trends in Islam. Hence, it is through this intellectual transmission that the term Salafism with the sense of Islamic modernist movement was created within Western scholarly literature on Islam. The Evolution of Salafism If there is no connection with al-Afghani and Abduhs Islamic modernism of the late 19th century, who first used the Salafi label as understood today? And how was it defined? As Lauziere (2010) argues, to remedy this puzzle requires considering the origin and development of the term Salafism from the perspective of conceptual history. According to Lauziere (2010, the growing popularity of Salafi epithets as well as overlap between Salafism and Islamic modernism can be attributed to a key role played by the Salafiyah Bookstore (al-Maktabat al-Salafiyyah). It was established in 1909 in Cairo by Muhib al-Din al-Khatib (1886-1969), a Syrian activist, well-known figure in the Egyptian publishing business, and pupil of Salafis-cum-modernists ulama`, Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (d. 1914) and Tahir al-Jazairi (d. 1920). Al-Khatibs involvement in cultural and political affairs opened the opportunity to establish the bookstore aimed at spreading his interests in Islamic scholarship and reformist ideas under the label Salafiyyah (Salafism). The name Salafiyyah for the bookstore was inspired by al-Khatibs mentor, Tahir al-Jazairi, who had inclinations to the madhhab al-salaf (school of the forefathers) with respect to Islamic theology. But, it seemed that al-Khatib misinterpreted the term Salafiyyah or understood it in a broader sense than al-Jazairi meant (Lauziere, 2010). This is reflected in the way he and his partner, Abdul Fattah Qatlan (d. 1931), operated the Salafiyyah Bookstore, particularly in terms of the type of literature they published. Being motivated by desires to encourage educated Arab readers to rediscover the glory of their religious, social and cultural heritage for the advancement of their society, al-Khatib and Qatlan were not confined themselves in printing and selling books on the Salafi theology. Rather, they published works on progressive nature of Islams golden age as well as a wide range of issues not connected to religious reform. They used the Salafi epithets to refer virtually to any Islamic intellectual heritage in medieval period, not in a narrow sense of a particular school of theology. In addition to treatises on religion, the Salafiyyah Bookstore published works on Arabic literat ure, Arabic grammar, and work of medieval Muslim philosophers such al-Farabi (d.950) and Ibn Sina (d.1037). In short, the literature that the Salafiyyah Bookstore published and sold in the 1910s was in accordance with the spirit and concerns of Islamic modernism (Lauziere, 2010:378). The selection and publication of this type of literature suggest that al-Khatib and Qatlan attempted to revive the works of the great Muslim scholars and underline the Muslimss contribution to modernity in the West of modern age. Under the label Salafism, they sought to emphasize the compatibility between revelation and modernity as shown by the works of great and pious forefathers (Salaf) in the past by which Muslims in the modern age should model for the revival and advancement of the Islamic world. In turn, all this resulted in turning Salafiyyah into a common and popular term among producers and consumers of Arabic literature in the Middle East and other Muslim regions (Lauziere, 2010:382). More importantly, an impression built up that the Salafiyyah Bookstore intertwined the term Salafism with Islamic modernism projected to the revival of Arabs and Muslims in the modern period. The label Salafism it used was then considered as to represent the success and greatness of the Islami c past. The bookstore expanded the scope of the term Salafism beyond its initial theological meanings and gradually created the association between Salafism and the project of Islamic modernism (Lauziere, 2010:377). The later development of the Salafiyyah Bookstore, however, determined the association of Islamic modernism and Salafism and brought about decisive changes in the nature and development of Salafism after the establishment of the Saudi Kingdom in the early 1920s. The bookstore experienced a shift with respect to choices of works for publication. This began with the change in the choice of works for publication. In the early 1920s, al-Khatib and Qatlan began to print works that appeared contradictive to the progressive and rationalist ideas of the Islamic reform movement though they kept promoting Islamic modernism. For example, the Salafiyyah Bookstore published works of those who strongly opposed the secular and controversial works of Ali Abd al-Raziq and Taha Husayn. It also published anti-rationalist treatises by Hanbali and his school followers ordered by Saudis. This shift in the choice of publications was more clearly discernable in the establishment of the Saudi branch of the S alafiyyah Bookstore in Mecca in the late 1920 initiated by Qatlan in partnership with a Hijazi Muhammad Salih Nasif (d.1971). In 1928, to suit the local needs, this Saudi branch began to publish works on Ahmad ibn Hanbal and his supporters as well pro-Wahhabi books such a theological treatise by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292-1350), which was printed with the request and fund from Ibn Saud (d. 1932), the first monarch of Saudi Arabia (Lauziere, 2010:383). This shift within the Salafiyya Bookstores choice of publications, according to Lauziere (2010), should be seen in the context of political change in the Muslim world in the mid 1920s. The fall of the Ottoman Empire and the abolition of Islamic caliphate in the early 1920s brought about political and cultural turbulence within the Muslim world. At the same time, however, the rise of the Saudi Kingdom in Hejaz offered Muslim ummah (global Muslim community) a great hope of social and political renaissance in the Muslim world. Therefore, many Muslims intellectuals and religious scholars, including Rasyid Ridha, supported the young Saudi state and turned toward religious conservatism, particularly Wahhabism,  [4]  founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792), and endorsed as an official school of Islam and promoted by the state. Al-Khatib showed the same response to these circumstances. He opted to support the young Saudi state and showed respect to the Wahhabism and its propone nts. These religio-political stances influenced the activities of his Salafiyyah Bookstore. This was reflected in the change of choices of editing and publishing when it began to publish the Wahhabi treatises and pro-Saudi works. Although Lauziere missed to capture the complexity of social and political transformation in the Muslim world in the first quarter of twentieth century, his argument was sufficient to overcome to the puzzle of Salafism by making sense of the evolution of Salafism. By publishing pro-Wahhabi works to cater the religious and political needs of the Saudi elite and proponents of Wahhabism, the Salafiyyah Bookstore brought its commercial label Salafism closer to Wahhabism. Though the Cairo Salafiyyah Bookstore still published modernist themes, the popularization and commodification of the Salafi epithets by the Saudi branch of the Salafiyyah Bookstore had brought the Wahhabi religious orientation to the fore. The unfounded intellectual association between Salafism (Salafiyyah) and al-Afghani and Abduhs Islamic reform as well as the absence of the monopoly over Salafism as a marketing brand that al-Khatib and Qatlan might have opened opportunity to the proponents of the Wahhabi-oriented pur ist movement kept using Salafiyyah as the label of their publications ignoring any modernist agenda as initiated by the original Salafi Bookstore in Cairo (Lauziere, 2010). It can be added that given that they shared the strong reference to the pious forefather (al-salaf al-shalih) with respect to theological issues with the Salafiyyah Bookstore, at least in its early years of operation, the proponents of Wahhabism had no difficulties in taking the advantage of using Salafism as their label of spreading the purist ideas of Ibn al-Wahhab. Through these religious-political processes, consequently, the Salafi epithets experienced re-definition and counter-definitions. More importantly, this gradually created the impression that the term Salafism and Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia were synonymous. The opening of the Saudi-connected Salafiyyah bookstores outside Saudi Arabia, such as in Syria and Pakistan, enforced this impression (Lauziere, 2010). Undoubtedly, this evolution of Salafism explains the state of the contemporary development of the Salafi movement with Saudi Arabia as its major supporter. Due to the fact that it is a contemporary phenomenon that assigns the epistemological value to traditions, Adis Duderija (2007:2011) labels the proponents of this contemporary Salafism as Neo-Traditional Salafis. In its later development, in the 1960s Wahhabi-inspired Salafism encountered with religious-political ideas brought by the Islamic activists who fled from their ruling governments repression and persecution found Saudi Arabia safe haven. This has to do with the Saudi Arabias policy under King Faisal (d. 1975) to support Islamic solidarity in its attempts to oppose Egypts pan-Arabism promoted by President Jamal Abdel Nasser (d. 1970), which was regarded as a threat to the existence of the kingdom (Lacroix, 2010). Among these refugees were the members of al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun (the Muslim Brotherhood), a religious-political movement that first emerged in Egypt in 1928 and then spread to the Muslim world. The political aspects of the ideology of al-Ikhwan al Muslimun encountered with the puritanical ideas of Wahhabism (Wahhabiyyah) brought about an intellectual hybrid identified as al-Sahwa al-Islamiyya (th

Professional Learning Communities What They Mean To Teachers Education Essay

Professional Learning Communities What They Mean To Teachers Education Essay Professional learning communities (PLCs) have been described as structures within which professionals-particularly teachers-can refine their skills, renew their spirits, and expand the scope of their knowledge (Fogarty Pete, 2006, p. 49). Even though the benefits are clear, there are numerous challenges involved in creating and managing PLCs. Such challenges have typically been broken down into concerns about: (1) finding time and otherwise overcoming logistical challenges to coaching; (2) designing appropriate coaching interventions; and (3) maximizing coaching effectiveness. This literature review will address each of these concepts by examining specific research directions taken by current theorists in the field of professional development, with the purpose of illustrating the spectrum of activity along which coaching can succeed or fail. After doing so, the literature review will also discuss broader theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of coaching, including a nalyses of the roles of: (1) race and other socioeconomic factors; (2) theories of motivation and (3) theories of organizational development. Defining and Contextualizing PLCs Rigorous definitions of the PLC, and evidence-based guidelines for its functioning, began to appear in the late nineteenth century. In the U.S., the entire project of teacher development took a huge step forward with the appearance of a number of periodicals dedicated to the subject, including The National Teacher, which debuted in 1870. It is highly likely that the professionalization of teaching in the U.S. had a great deal to do with the emergence of a standard method of teacher development, including the creation of formal PLCs. In the third volume of The National Teacher, published in 1873, the following passage appeared: First, then, the prospective teacher should be trained in the handling of illustrative material, apparatus, charts, maps, diagrams, objects, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.his practice in them should be such as will enable him to bring before the eye what can be very imperfectly addressed to the ear. This should be done, in the first instance, privately, or in the presence of the members of a teaching class, subject to their kind but searching criticismà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(Mitchell, 1873, p. 367) This passage is one of the first allusions, at least in American sources, to the notion of a professional learning community. It is worth situating the emergence of the PLC into the broader stream of professionalization and scientific reordering of vocations in post-Civil War America. Ellis and Hartley (2004) argued that the Civil War, which had mobilized the nations resources in service of total warfare, had exposed glaring weaknesses in the organization and practice of many professions, starting with the army and extending to nursing, teaching, and manufacturing. According to Ellis and Hartley, nursing was one of the first professions to be thoroughly professionalized in the aftermath of the Civil War, but other professions soon followed (p. 133). It is natural to draw the likely connection between the professionalization of nursing and the professionalization of teaching, both of which were historically feminine practices that, in the wake of the Civil War, were re-aligned with male perceptions of the scientific method and the professionalization of work. The emergence of the learning community can certainly be placed into this context of masculinization. Mitchell (1873) himself made a comparison between (largely female) teaching and (largely male) medicine, to the detriment of teaching (p. 362). In Mitchells opinion, one of the variables that made medicine more scientific than teaching was the fact that medical practitioners constantly mentored, critiqued, assisted, and otherwise engaged with one another, whereas American teaching had not benefited from this kind of inter-vocational interchange. At first, American pedagogical theorists did not suggest that a PLC ought to exist separately from a teaching college. Rather, these theorists thought of the professional learning community as a kind of epiphenomenon of the teaching college. For example, an anonymous writer identified only by a city of origin (New Haven, CT) to the U.S. Bureau of Education in 1885 had the following to say about a professional learning community: A few points, enforced each week and perhaps illustrated with a class, will bring up the teaching powers of those who have not had a professional training, and they will not be wearied out by trying to apply a crude mass of theories.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The attendance at such meetings should be voluntary. There should be such a tone of interest and enthusiasm in a community as will inspire teachers with an honest and eager desire to know how to workà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(p. 274) At this point in American pedagogy, instruction was still meted out by superintendents (or pedagogues) to teachers, but there was a recognition that the input of the peer community of teachers was just as important to teacher development as any model of top-down instruction or professionalization. The PLC was at this point defined not as a separate set of development activities, but as a kind of grassroots camaraderie between teachers in formal development settings. Soon, however, the modern definition of the PLC would emerge. It is impossible to state with certainty when the shift from the early, voluntary PLC led by the superintendent began to give way to the more formal, school-managed PLC. It appears that the shift took place over the 1930s and began to cement itself by the 1940s. Otto (1944) offered an explanation of the changing role of the principal, and how it lent itself to closer, school-level management of the PLC. According to Otto (1944), American secondary schools continued to grow in size and complexity until the superintendent was no longer able to manage or own all of the processes for which the role had previously been responsible; thus, for example, The growing need for more and better supervision of classroom instruction suggested the desirability of planning the administrative organization so that this need could be met (p. 197). There were two stages in the hand-off of PLCs from the superintendent to principals; firstly, in the 1930s and early 1940s, office staff associated with the s uperintendent appear to have taken over responsibility for all aspects of vocational teacher development (Otto, 1944, p. 197); however, when Otto (1944) was writing, there was already another hand-off underway from central bureaucrats to the principal. After the Second World War, the principal emerged as the figure most responsible for defining, managing, and otherwise supporting the professional learning community in American schools. Just as the Civil War had introduced ideas of industrial organization to various vocations, the Second World War created manpower and resource shortages that prompted a faster transition from centralized control over teacher development to a more communal, school-level management of the process (Troyer, Allen, and Young, 1946, p. 241). These forces remain very much in effect today. Instructional Coaching and The Four Types of Coaching According to Wilson and Gislason (2009), there are four types of coaching: internal coaching, peer coaching, manager-performed coaching, and external coaching (p. 56). As their names suggest, peer coaching is about coaching that is delivered by colleagues to each other; manager-based coaching is delivered by managers (or, in the educational context, principals, superintendents, and/or other administrators) to teachers; external coaching is typically performed by consultants; and internal coaching, by contrast, includes all the kinds of coaching that are provided in-house. All four kinds of coaching have been employed in the instructional coaching context. Knight (2005) documented a wave of hiring of outside instructional coaches by U.S. public schools in the 1990s and first half of the 2005, driven by the urgency of achieving basic reading and mathematics competency skills tied to federal funding and the perception that schools themselves did not contain the proper instructional resources to achieve this task. According to Clarkson and Taylor (2005, p. 4), one of the problems created by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative was a push to define instructional coaching as the rote memorization of standards rather than an internalization of the pedagogical principles needed to teach up to those standards. Thus, it can be argued that external coaching becomes more popular in times of external stress on teachers to perform to a particular standard, whereas, in ordinary times, genuinely pedagogical (rather than instrumentalist) internal coaching is the more common form of instructional coaching (Matsumara, Sartoris, Bickel, Garnier 2009). In modern theory, peer coaching is praised for its egalitarian values, but theorists are also concerned that teachers lack the specific pedagogical background and expertise to make other teachers better. For example, Buly, Coskie, Robinson, and Egawa (2006) have argued that the external coach is focused on getting teachers to ask why in a structured fashion, whereas teachers are themselves often concerned with teaching other practical and specific strategies. Barriers in PLCs and Instructional Coaching: Logistics One of the major challenges in creating coaching interventions for PLCs is simply finding the time and opportunity to bring together busy professionals for dedicated learning and training. This challenge is a particularly pressing one in the current economic environment, in which so many working professionals are being called upon to do less with more. Thus, as Fogarty and Pete (p. 49) pointed out, an excellent place to begin a discussion of professional learning communities is in the realm of logistics, i.e. how to create the time and space for such communities, which is as much of a problem today as it was when Troyer, Allen, and Young (1946) wrote about the logistical challenges of organizing and managing the PLC in wartime. Abdal-Haqq (1996) argued that, within school settings particularly, PLCs scheduling ought to be built directly into both the workday and the job descriptions of teachers (although this advice applies equally well to other communities of practice). Abdal-Haqq (1996) concludes that the greatest challenge to implementing effective professional development is lack of time (p. 1), so great responsibility falls on the shoulders of leaders and managers who must accommodate PLCs in terms of schedules and job design. Fernandez (2002) made the point that making time and space for PLCs to thrive is itself partly dependent on cultural approaches. She discussed the case of the Japanese educational system, in which a great deal of emphasis is placed on lesson study, in which teachers are given the time and opportunity to reflect on both their practice and that of others (p. 393). There is more pressure on individual professionals to take advantage of existing resources, and to take the lead in overcoming logistical barriers to embed themselves within PLCs. While there is extensive lip service paid to the value of PLCs, professional development is often subject to self-regulation rather than proper top-down guidance, argued Butler, Lauscher, Jarvis-Selinger, and Beckingham (2004). Having surveyed the history of PLC development, it becomes clear that the absence of top-down guidance is itself part of the steady downward transfer of administrative power tracked by Otto (1944). While Japan appears to have retained a centralized and top-down structure for managing and supporting PLCs and other forms of teacher development, in the U.S. such responsibility has devolved down to the principal. For many theorists, the logistics of PLCs are inseparable from school system support for teachers. For example, Lappan (1997) offered the following insight: The local capacity to support change is central to implementing reforms. Teachers, and those who support teachers, need time-time to learnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p. 207). Of course, in this context, it should be pointed out time is a valuable commodity. There is a powerful tension between the time and resources needed for supporting the local logistics needed for nurturing professional learning communities and the time and resources needed by principals, administrators, and other supporters of development for other tasks. Unfortunately, as Abdal-Haqq (1996, p. 1) also suggests, schools are faced with a zero sum environment, in which to support the PLC is to remove support from some other organizational goal. It is in this context that the logistical difficulties of PLC support should be understood. Moreover, until schools enjoy increase d funding, it is not clear that the logistical problems noted as early as Troyer, Allen, and Young (1946) will simply evaporate. Of course, one way in which the problem could be solved is by employing PLCs themselves to ease the logistical problems faced by schools. To the extent that teachers could train and develop other teachers without extensive time and resource commitments, PLCs could be of great economic benefit; as in the Second World War, the teacher-training-teacher paradigm could yield economic benefits rather than sucking up resources. For PLCs to actually operate in this fashion requires close attention to the variable of coaching design. Barriers in PLCs and Instructional Coaching: Change Management From at least the 1870s onwards, there has been a rich debate on how to best deploy teachers to train and develop other teachers. In the first stage of this debate, from Mitchell (1873) to Arnold (1898), it was assumed that merely talking about pedagogy and other teaching-related issues in a voluntary, informal meeting would assist junior teachers in their development. Over the decades, voluntary meetings gave way to more formal in-school development programs, particularly when the Second World War forced schools to consider more resource-efficient ways to engage in teacher training. In this context, the promise of coaching design is that, if there is a sound system under which to transfer teacher knowledge from senior to junior colleagues, the PLC can save school systems time, money, and administrative commitment. On the other hand, if coaching design is itself weak or unmotivated, then teachers will resist it and the PLC will fail to fulfill its promise. These issues are at the heart of the modern debate on coaching design. In contemporary times, there is much more urgency around the subject of coaching design thanks to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002, which has directly tied student performance to federal funding and accreditation. Killion (2005) is one of many theorists who has pointed out that one response to NCLB is the implementation of instructional coaching to improve instruction and student achievement. Instructional coaching is a relatively new phenomenon, at the core of which is a conviction that professional learning improves teaching practices and teaching practices improve student achievement (Knight, 2007; Killion Harrison, 2006; Knowal Steiner, 2007). Instructional design is not easy to implement because, as Knight (2007) has pointed out, teachers are not innately resistant to change will tend to resist poorly-designed agendas of change. As such, it is of the utmost importance to arrive at an understanding of the best practices of coaching design. In an organizational context, instructional coaching provides motivation to mentees, which in turn is intended to improve the productivity and morale of mentees. When instructional coaches work with students, their sole purpose is to demonstrate and model best teaching practices to teachers in order to improve student teaching (Knight, 2007). Motivation is the key to understanding the role that good coaching should play within a professional learning community (Bransford, 2000). Coaching design principles vary widely depending on the specific kind of professional development that is being pursued. Fortunately, however, there appears to be some consensus on best practices for coaching design. Bransfords (2000) seminal book, How People Learn, argued that coaching design should have four centrisms; i.e., it should be learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered (p. 188). There are many different interpretations of how these four foci can be best captured in a PLC. For example, Beyerbach, Weber, Swift, and Gooding (1996) emphasized that the knowledge focus of PLC design ought to have a practical component, so that members of the community understand the practical applications of what they are being taught (pp. 101-102). For teachers, this practical component can be satisfied by understanding why, in the context of real-world problem solving, it is necessary for them to develop a new skill or refine an existing one. Another recent emphasis in coaching design for community-centered learning is the utilization of collaborative software, particularly blogs and wikis, which have the potential to span each of Bransfords focus areas for coaching design. Higdon and Topaz (2009) stated that blogs and wikis had an important role in creating a more centered learning environment, There is wide consensus in the academic literature about the usefulness of instructional coaching within professional learning communities. Within a professional learning community, the qualities of good teaching for students should also be evident in professional learning for teachers (DuFour Eaker,1998; Bransford, 2000). However, there are also a number of obstacles to the implementation or the success of instructional coaching, including logistical factors (such as potential coaches lack of time), institutional factors (such as a lack of managerial support for coaching), and professional factors (such as coaches lack of relevant skills). Leaving aside these barriers, good coaching design may not be so much a matter of pedagogical design as it is a matter of change management. Bransford (2000) and other researchers have already explained the evidence for best practices in specific aspects of coaching design; the issue is not so much the content of coaching design as it is the necessity of convincing teachers to go along with coaching. In this regard, there are some helpful theoretical contributions from business literature, which has long struggled with the question of optimal change management in organizations. Jensen and Kerr (1994, p. 408), based on a case study of change at Pepsi, argued that the following five questions had to be satisfactorily answered before constituents bought into a change agenda: Why must we change, and why is this change important? What do you want me to do? What are the measures/consequences of change/no change? What tools and support and available to me? Whats in it for me? These questions of change management emerge at the point of implementation: i.e., as soon as it becomes necessary to transition from a theory of the professional learning community to an actual implementation, requiring intellectual and emotional buy-in from teachers. But change management is an issue that is better tackled not by coaching designers, whose responsibility is to transfer principles such as those of Bransford (2000) to local pedagogical contexts, but at the level of what can be called effectiveness maximization of the PLC. Effectiveness Maximization and Theoretical Approaches There is wide-ranging agreement on the importance of PLCs, and even on the operational and conceptual details that PLC must satisfy in terms of coaching design. The crux of the problem lies not necessarily in those details but more in the question of how to maximize the effectiveness of PLCs. First, there is the logistical question. If there is little institutional time, resources, and guidance put into PLC program creation and management, then coaching programs are unlikely to be effective. However, even organizations that have hurdled over the logistical challenge and implemented some form of PLC must still solve the question of how to maximize their coaching programs effectiveness, including the considerations of change management as highlighted by Jensen and Kerr (1994). There are some convincing arguments that PLCs resist straightforward methods of evaluation and improvement, which creates a fundamental challenge at the level of effectiveness maximization. Revans (1979), the pioneer of the action research concept, saw the creation and functioning of a PLC as a holistic process, one that cannot be dissected and improved on a part-by-part level. To Revans (1979), a functional PLC is something that both managers and participants can recognize only by taking part in it. This dynamic has something of a chicken-and-egg quality to it, as an effective PLC requires planning, but the proper inputs of planning may only become apparent after a PLC has been launched. Even with this limitation in mind, it is still possible to both measure and improve the effectiveness of a coaching component of a PLC by surveying participants about how they are benefiting from the specific coaching program, and employing these insights to structure the back-end processes that feed into the PLC. Borko (2004) argued that it is certainly possible to measure factors such as teacher (or, for that matter, any other form of professional) learning and satisfaction; moreover, teacher performance in classrooms can also be measured by such standards as student evaluations and standardized test scores. The point is that, when a PLC is working properly, its results will show themselves in a number of domains. It is incumbent on managers or others who oversee these programs to collect baseline data in order to measure the programs achievements, and also to identify the areas that need renewed attention and resources. Maximizing the effectiveness of PLCs thus comes down to both measurement and targeted action (Dufour, Dufour, Eaker Karhanek, 2004; Saphier West, 2010; and Knight 2009), whose basis can be the experience of mentees. It is necessary, at this point, to consult some theories of motivation and organizational development in order to consider how to best maximize the effectiveness of PLCs. Much of the literature on PLCs takes it for granted that teachers are motivated to buy into the program; however, it need not be the case that teachers are motivated, or that PLCs are constituted so as to maximize the strengths of the organization. Fortunately, theoretical literature has made it easier to understand the overlap between PLCs, motivation, and organizational development. Herzberg (1966) argued that: someone who is motivated is truly a sight to behold, as they put all of their heart and soul into an activity. Love of work is certainly the strongest motivator of people (p. 141). Coaches exist partly to instill mentees with love of work, via a number of mechanisms, including that of instrumentality, or making sure that people have the tools that they need to accomplish a work task. Note that instrumentality was also part of Jensen and Kerrs (1994) framework for appropriate change management. If people lack the tools to achieve what is asked for them, they will not only resist change but also lose motivation. As such, administrators should bear in mind that every tool (including time) put in the hands of PLC members effects the motivation of individual members, and therefore the overall success of the PLC. According to the theoretical foundation provided by organizational psychologists such as Herzberg, Vroom (1964), and Maslow (1993), instructional coaching should have a salutary effect on mentees in so far as coaching instills mentees with instrumentality and motivation. One part of this dissertations purpose is to measure the impact of good coaching, as reported by mentees, and also to assess the impact of bad or nonexistent coaching. Doing so is an exercise in the measurement of organizational motivation and morale as conceptualized by a number of influential theorists in the field. For example, Banduras (1997) social learning theory is sometimes cited in the coaching literature and explains human behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences. The central aspect of Banduras (1977) theory is the claim that humans learn by watching others model behavior. Thus, psychological theory now provides firm support for the i dea of coaching as a transfer of desirable behavior from senior to junior members of a community. Clearly, then, theory has a great deal to tell us about the scientific basis for PLCs, and also about how best to maximize their effectiveness. Some of the theories surveyed in this section, for example, have emphasized the importance of motivation and instrumentality in the PLC. One final theory that ought to be considered is that of so-called toxic mentorship. It will be recalled that, as early as Arnold (1898), there is an assumption that, when teachers come together for purposes of development, mutual reinforcement and learning will inevitably take place. It is taken for granted, both by Arnold (1898) and by Mitchell (1873), that senior teachers have the best interests of the profession, and of their junior colleagues, in mind. This assumption, however, might be naÃÆ' ¯ve. There is now a great deal of research on dimensions of coaching and mentorship that fail due to the attitudes of senior teachers. Webb and Shakespeare (2008), Atkin and Wilmington (2007), and Grossman (2007) have all discussed so-called toxic mentorship as one of the ways in which coaching goes wrong, for example when coaches are burned out, unhelpful, scornful of their own profession, unethical, or not involved enough or knowledge to provide adequate feedback. The aforementioned res earchers have called attention to toxic mentorship in the nursing field, in which there has been more of an attempt of late to critique bad coaching. However, educational literature in general has not yet grappled as extensively with the concept of the toxic mentor, which is another reason why it is timely and relevant to ask mentees about this concept, as part of a more general data-gathering project on the measurable impact of mentorship on productivity and morale. Conclusion This literature review has covered a great deal of ground in attempting to illuminate the concept of the professional learning community, all the way from the seventeenth century to the present day. The conclusion is reserved for discussing an important lacuna in the research, and employing this lacuna to lend context to the research carried out by this dissertation. It will be noted that, for all of its history, teacher development in general and the PLC in particular have been defined by people other than the constituents. At first, superintendents had the greatest input into the process; later, principals took on this mantle. Throughout the process, senior teachers exercised a great deal of influence, as they had the prized knowledge that was to be passed on and passed down to junior colleagues. In the century of literature surveyed here, it is interesting to note that very few, if any, researchers have focused on the ability of mentees to provide important feedback about the nature of coaching within the PLC. It is almost invariably assumed that some outside authority, whether the superintendent or principal, is the owner of the process, while senior teachers are the drivers of the process. This attitude may be about to change because, in PLCs as in business communities, there is a move to recognize the centrality of the so-called customer. In this case, the customer of coaching is the mentee, the recipient of coaching. In both private business and public policy contexts, the customer has increasingly become both the owner and the driver of certain processes. Businesses conduct surveys of customers in order to determine what to produce. Public sector organizations, similarly, turn to the citizen-stakeholder as the ultimate owner of a process, and try to orient processes accordingly. It may be that, in coaching, the focus is about to shift from the top of the pyramid to the base: That is, from the traditional owners of coaching to its customers, namely teachers. It is possible that teachers will, in future, play an enhanced role in guiding the direction of coaching, specifically by providing input as to what kind of coaching works and what kind does not. Of course, this kind of input does not constitute the sum total of what is needed to create an effective PLC, but it is also unthinkable that learning communities can long thrive or survive without being driven by the interests and predilections of their own customers. It should also be noted collegiality has been a foundational value of the PLC. Indeed, the functioning of PLCs from the nineteenth century onwards has required a spirit of collegiality in that members of such communities must be open to critique, generous with help of others, and committed to coexistence and mutual advancement.