College Admissions Essay: My Contribution to Disability Awareness :: College Admissions Essays

My Contribution to Disability Awareness It's 8 o'clock in the morning and the corridors of Mill Road Elementary are busier than Grand Central Station. The only difference is that Mill Road students are about a foot shorter and ten times more energetic than your average Grand Central Station commuter. In comparison with the dorm room I have just left, these walls are papered with hundreds of drawings and paintings. The hallways could compete with any modern gallery in terms of sheer bulk and some critics might argue for their content as well. However, I did not wake up at 7 o'clock to view the Mill Road Elementary prized art collection. Instead, I am there to present the 3-step Disabilities Awareness program to several classes of supercharged fifth graders. Standing in front of 30 or so fifth graders is a lonely position. I feel the burden of all teachers and start my presentation. It is a difficult curriculum to teach to fifth graders because of the many contradictions and situational circumstances. These fifth graders are sharp and ask questions whose answers could easily fill the rest of the year's class time. It is for this same reason that the presentation is such an enjoyable program. A ten-question quiz, designed to "pop" some of the myths about disabilities, is given to the students. The class discusses ideas about independence, differentiating between disabilities and emphasizing that the person comes before the disability. The quiz is an icebreaker that encourages the students to ask questions that pertain to the whole disabilities spectrum. Once the students begin to feel comfortable, I am flooded with questions. Students are able to expand their knowledge on a variety of disability-related issues. The real challenge is to help them change their perception of people with disabilities. Students have to be convinced that a disability is a limitation and every human has his or her own limitations. A disability is not a sickness someone can catch like a cold. When the students begin to see that we are all equal, then the Disabilities Awareness program has really done its job. The students are stubborn at first to new ideas but, after challenging them, they begin to see the truth behind these ideas and start accepting them. The second and third presentations are follow-up visits that seek to reinforce the same ideas presented in the first session using different activities.

How effectively two productions of Macbeth introduce Duncan Essay

Examine how effectively two productions of Macbeth introduce Duncan. In your answer you may wish to consider setting, lighting, costumes and choice of actor? King Duncan is introduced in the text as text as the first speaking character after the witches, and in only a short space of time has shown himself to be a figure of power, able command the respect of his fellow man and is a keen listener. William Shakespeare’s text starts by showing King Duncan’s authority in his first sentence: â€Å"What bloody man is that?† The king demands, instead of waiting for an answer, he puts two and two together and says: â€Å"He can report, as seemth by his plight† And the soldier tells the king about the battle. Duncan also keeps his Reponses short and to the point, he appears to be a good listener as he never interrupts anyone while there talking and waits for his turn to talk, a respectful king. Also as king he appears to be noble even though he doesn’t have to be, this is shown by: â€Å"O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman† Here he addresses Macbeth with a title furthermore calling him brave and he calls the captain worthy. He is also a caring man this is demonstrated after the bleeding captain finishes tells him about the battle: â€Å"Go get him surgeons.† The king doesn’t have to have anything to do with this but he takes action. In 1971Roman Polanski directed a cinema version of the Shakespeare play Macbeth. This film introduced a whole new generation to William Shakespeare, Listed below are differences between this form of media and what was traditionally seen as the home of Shakespeare, the stage. The differences being a less sophisticated audience, in terms of knowledge Shakespeare’s plays. Ability to film on location, this has the advantage of looking great it if done correctly but if it is done badly it looks cheap and tacky. The amount of actors in the movie industry out weights that of the stage productions, so a range of talent to choose from is greater. Roman Polanski not only takes advantage of all of the above but he makes the characters his as he sees them. An example of the is King Duncan, Polanski chooses a man of about 45 years of age, he does this because he doesn’t to see older less active man, he wants to show a king of action, this is shown in the movie, when we see the king on horseback riding across the battlefield, this happens at the expense of the text at the start of act 1 scene 2 where it says the location: â€Å"King Duncan’s camp near Forres† It says camp not battleground, the king would never go into battle himself this was his right as a king. Another thing Polanski does is to show the king wearing a poncho with his family coat of arms embroiled on it, below this Duncan is clad to battle armour, this gives us a false impression of bravery, and he also rides with his crown on his head this is to gain yet more attention, almost rubbing his advantage over the lesser men. The opening with scene with Duncan has him riding over a sand dune, but before we even see this we people play the trumpet, you have to important to have your own fanfare and guard, as they ride on to beach the camera keeps up with them and we see the sky the is heavily over cast, maybe a sign of things to come. Polanski has also seen fit to shorten the parts to the play, the effect of this is to keep things flowing fast and to hold the audiences attention. When Duncan starts talking to the injured captain, it seem very informal, they’re all it horse and none of them show respect to king by bowing or other courtships. The king then travels to see Cawdor, who is pined down, by seeing this man Duncan is lower himself because it almost like he is getting his hands dirty as appose to just giving orders, then he takes out his board sword and lowers it to Cawdor’s neck where in skilfully removes a medallion and for the briefest of moments we think he going to kill him. In the Trevor Nunn version of Macbeth, this is a stage production by the Royal Shakespeare Company. There are more limitations placed on the director because it is a stage production all the action takes place in the same place, this also forces the audience to use there imaginations, more that a film. Props can be used but there are limitations to how much you can do. The opening sequence we see a circle of light, a metaphor for everlasting life, everything is in complete darkness except the for this circle, the forces of evil and the force of good are both represented and both will play roles in the play. The actors come on stage from the darkness and one stands the king, he is wearing a white one piece sheet, the white is in contrast with the darkness and could be a metaphor for peace and purity. The camera then pans around each actor in turn, each is wearing black and looks to be about middle age, then it passes Duncan who has a full beard and looks quite like a Santa Claus figure Santa is known for his kindness and good judgement this also true for Duncan. After the witches’ predicts, we see how frail he is when to friendly face comes to his aid helping him to his feet, his maybe a sign that the end is coming. In summary the both versions of Macbeth enlightening, it was useful to get some else’s perspective on Macbeth. But there can be not denying Duncan greatness when an enemy say this: â€Å"Besides, This Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so cleat in his great office† Macbeth says this about Duncan, with enemies like this who need friends. I think Trevor Nunn version represented Duncan better because Nunn used simple but very powerful metaphors.   

Get 10 Interesting Facts About Oxygen

Oxygen is one of the best-known gases on the planet, largely because it is so important for our physical survival. It is a crucial part of Earths atmosphere and hydrosphere, its used for medical purposes, and it has a profound effect on plants, animals, and metals. Facts About Oxygen Oxygen is atomic number 8 with the element symbol O. It was discovered by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1773, but he did not publish his work immediately, so credit is often given to Joseph Priestly in 1774.  Here are 10 interesting facts about the element oxygen. Animals and plants require oxygen for respiration. Plant photosynthesis drives the oxygen cycle, maintaining it around 21% in air.  While the gas is essential for life, too much of it can be toxic or lethal. Symptoms of oxygen poisoning include vision loss, coughing, muscle twitching, and seizures.  At normal pressure, oxygen poisoning occurs when the gas exceeds 50%.Oxygen gas is colorless, odorless, and tasteless.  Its usually purified by  fractional distillation of liquefied air, but the element is found in many compounds, such as water, silica, and carbon dioxide.Liquid and solid oxygen is pale blue.  At lower temperatures and higher pressures, oxygen changes its appearance from blue monoclinic crystals to orange, red, black, and even a metallic appearance.Oxygen is a nonmetal.  It has low thermal and electrical conductivity, but high electronegativity and ionization energy. The solid form is brittle rather than malleable or ductile. The atoms readily gain electrons a nd form covalent chemical bonds.Oxygen gas normally is the divalent molecule O2. Ozone, O3, is another form of pure oxygen.  Atomic oxygen, which is also called singlet oxygen does occur in nature, although the ion readily bonds to other elements. Singlet oxygen may be found in the upper atmosphere. A single atom of oxygen usually has an oxidation number of -2.Oxygen supports combustion.  However, it is not truly flammable!  It is considered an oxidizer. Bubbles of pure oxygen dont burn.Oxygen is paramagnetic, which means it is weakly attracted to a magnet but doesnt retain permanent magnetism.Approximately 2/3 of the mass of the human body is oxygen. This makes it the most abundant element, by mass, in the body.  Much of that oxygen is part of water, H2O. Although there are more hydrogen atoms in the body than oxygen atoms, they account for significantly less mass. Oxygen is also the most abundant element in the Earths crust (about 47% by mass) and the third most common ele ment in the Universe. As stars burn hydrogen and helium, oxygen becomes more abundant.Excited oxygen is responsible for the bright red, green, and yellow-green colors of the aurora. Its the molecule of primary importance, as far as generating bright and colorful auroras.Oxygen was the atomic weight standard for the other elements until 1961 when it was replaced by carbon 12. Oxygen made a good choice for the standard before much was known about isotopes because although there are 3 natural isotopes of oxygen, most of it is oxygen-16. This is why the atomic weight of oxygen (15.9994) is so close to 16. About 99.76% of oxygen is oxygen-16.