READING AND REFLECTION SEMESTER 2

   


               The Old Man and The Sea

The Old Man and the Sea, short heroic novel by Earnest Hemingway, published in 1952 and awarded the 1953 Pulitzer prize for fiction. It was his last major work of fiction. The story centers on an aging fisherman who engages in an epic battle to catch a giant marlin.

Ernest Hemingway (right) with Joe Russell (raising a glass), an unidentified young man, and a marlin, Havana Harbor, 1932.

Summary

The central character is an old Cuban fisherman named Santiago, who has not caught a fish for 84 days. The family of his apprentice, Manolin, has forced the boy to leave the old fisherman, though Manolin continues to support him with food and bait. Santiago is a mentor to the boy, who cherishes the old man and the life lessons he imparts. Convinced that his luck must change, Santiago takes his skiff far out into the deep waters of the Gulf Stream, where he soon hooks a giant marlin. With all his great experience and strength, he struggles with the fish for three days, admiring its strength, dignity, and faithfulness to its identity; its destiny is as true as Santiago’s as a fisherman. He finally reels the marlin in and lashes it to his boat.

However, Santiago’s exhausting effort goes for naught. Sharks are drawn to the tethered marlin, and, although Santiago manages to kill a few, the sharks eat the fish, leaving behind only its skeleton. After returning to the harbour, the discouraged Santiago goes to his home to sleep. In the meantime, others see the skeleton tied to his boat and are amazed. A concerned Manolin is relieved to find Santiago alive, and the two agree to go fishing together.

MODEL WORK

                                       MY ENGLISH MODEL WORK!!!

DIFFERENT WAYS FOR CONVERSATION PRACTICE

How to get the most out of your conversation practice?

1. Pick the side you want to speak for

Most topics have two sides to argue on. You can pick either of the side – favor or against – or sometimes just take an entirely different direction. For example, if the discussion topic is ‘should laptops be allowed in classrooms?’ you can argue either in favor of the topic (allow laptops in classrooms) or against it (don’t allow laptops in classrooms).

2. Make a mental note of your regular mistakes few minutes before you start

Few minutes before the conversation begins, make a mental note of your regular 1-2 mistakes you won’t repeat. Even if you’ve to go slow or take other measures to curb these mistakes, do it.

3. Prepare a structure

Take the conversation seriously even if you’re speaking to a friend, because what you do in practice comes out in real situations as well. Prepare before opening your mouth to avoid rambling and frequent pauses. Get your thoughts organized in bullet points in the order you plan to speak. For example, if you’re speaking against allowing laptops in classrooms, following could be a structure for what you want to say:

• Laptops shouldn’t be allowed in classrooms [State what you stand for right in the beginning]
• Laptops distract even if the intention is to just take notes because users invariably drift to internet or offline games
• They also distract those who are not using it
• They also add to our screen-time, which is gathering menacing proportion these days
• Therefore, I believe… [Conclude]

4. Support your argument

Add any statistic, expert opinion, quote, anecdote, or personal experience in support of your assertion (you need to think of them when preparing your structure as mentioned in the previous point). That’s how you strengthen your argument. For example, you can narrate your or someone else’s experience of how distracting use of laptop in the classroom was.

5. Listen

When the other person is speaking, don’t think of what you would say next. Listen. Listen. And listen. If you listen, you would be able to counter his point if you don’t agree with it or build on what he said if you’ve more to say on it. A good response takes cues from what the other person said and reacts to it, and doesn’t get fixated on what you’ve already prepared.

6. Review after the conversation ends

Most people just hang up after finishing the conversation, which isn’t the best way. After the conversation, you should spend few minutes analyzing what went right and what went wrong. Few areas of improvement would be obvious to you, but few can be discovered through feedback from the other person. Identifying your mistakes is gold. Work on them. That’s the fastest way to improve. If you don’t critique your performance and take corrective steps, your communication skills would barely improve even after years of practice.

HOW TO BE A GREAT TEACHER

                     HOW TO BE A GREAT TEACHER!!!

GESTALT SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY

    

       Gestalt psychology is a school of thought that looks at the human mind and behavior as a whole. When trying to make sense of the world around us, Gestalt psychology suggests that we do not simply focus on every small component.

Instead, our minds tend to perceive objects as part of a greater whole and as elements of more complex systems. This school of psychology played a major role in the modern development of the study of human sensation and perception.

A Brief History of Gestalt Psychology

Originating in the work of Max Wertheimer, Gestalt psychology formed partially as a response to the structuralism of Wilhem wunt.

While Wundt was interested in breaking down psychological matters into their smallest possible part, the Gestalt psychologists were instead interested in looking at the totality of the mind and behavior. The guiding principle behind the Gestalt movement was that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

The development of this area of psychology was influenced by a number of thinkers, including Immanuel Kant, Ernst Mach, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The development of Gestalt psychology was influenced in part by Wertheimer's observations one day at a train station. He purchased a toy stroboscope which displayed pictures in a rapid sequence to mimic the appearing movement. He later proposed the concept of the Phi phenomenon in which flashing lights in sequence can lead to what is known as apparent motion. In other words, we perceive movement where there is none. Movies are one example of apparent motion. Through a sequence of still frames, the illusion of movement is created.

"The fundamental 'formula' of Gestalt theory might be expressed in this way,” Max Wertheimer wrote. "There are wholes, the behavior of which is not determined by that of their individual elements, but where the part-processes are themselves determined by the intrinsic nature of the whole. It is the hope of Gestalt theory to determine the nature of such wholes."

Major Gestalt Psychologists

There were a number of thinkers who had an influence on Gestalt psychology. Some of the best-known Gestalt psychologists included:

Max Wertheimer: Regarded as one of the three founders of Gestalt psychology, Wertheimer is also known for his concept of the phi phenomenon. The phi phenomenon involves perceiving a series of still images in rapid succession in order to create the illusion of movement.

Kurt Koffka: Know as one of the three founders of Gestalt psychology, Kurt Koffka had diverse interests and studied many topics in psychology including learning, perception, and hearing impairments.

Wolfgang Kohler: Also a key founding figure in the history of the Gestalt movement, Kohler also famously summarized Gestalt theory by saying, "The whole is different than the sum of its parts." He was also known for his research on problem solving, his criticisms of the introspection used by the structuralists to study the human mind, and his opposition to behaviorism.

Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization

Have you ever noticed how a series of flashing lights often appears to be moving, such as neon signs or strands of Christmas lights? According to Gestalt psychology, this apparent movement happens because our minds fill in missing information. This belief that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts led to the discovery of several different phenomena that occur during perception.

In order to better understand how human perception works, Gestalt psychologists proposed a number of law of perceptual organization, including the laws of similarity, Pragnanz, proximity, continuity, and closure.

The law of similarity suggests that similar items tend to be grouped together. If a number of objects in a scene are similar to one another, you will naturally group them together and perceive them as a whole. For example, a series of circles or squares stacked together will be viewed as a series of columns rather than just individual shapes.

The law of proximity suggests that objects near each other tend to be viewed as a group. If you see a number of people standing close together, for example, you might immediately assume that they are all part of the same social group.

At a restaurant, for example, the host or hostess might assume that people seated next to each other in the waiting area are together and ask if they are ready to be seated. In reality, they may only be sitting near each other because there is little room in the waiting area or because those were the only open seats.

KERALA FLOOD

        

                 Mining and dams exacerbated devastating Kerala floods  

             Torrential rains pounded southwest India in August, triggering devastating floods in the state of Kerala that have so far killed at least 483 people and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. The monsoon rains have been heavier than usual, but scientists say that outdated dam-management systems and increasing mining and development in the Western Ghats mountain range — a biodiversity hotspot that ecologists are trying to conserve — exacerbated the disaster.

        Kerala received 758.6 millimeters of rain between 1 and 19 August — 2.6 times the average for that time of year. The unusually heavy downpours caused rivers to overflow. Many of the fatalities were a result of landslides in rural areas, triggered by the massive downpours. Authorities say the floods are the state’s most damaging in 100 years.

           A contributing factor is that after the heavy rain, authorities began to release water from several of the state’s 44 dams, where reservoirs were close to overflowing. The neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu also purged water from its over-filled Mullaperiyar dam, which wreaked yet more havoc downstream in Kerala.

       Scientists say state governments often allow reservoirs to fill completely early in the monsoon season, and do not release water slowly at regular intervals to prevent overfilling later in the season. “India’s reservoir management is unscientific,” says meteorologist Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, secretary of India’s ministry of Earth sciences, which oversees the country’s meteorological institutes. Computer models and meteorological forecasts are used in Europe and the United States to predict the rate at which water flows into reservoirs and how much water needs to be stored — but few authorities in India use such systems, says Rajeevan. He suggests that prediction systems should be introduced across India. 

POEM ABOUT MOTHER

                                                              MOM

                             Mom, from the time I was really young,

I realized I had someone...you,

who always cared,

who always protected me,

who was always there for me no matter what.

You taught me right from wrong,

and pushed me to do the right thing,

even when it was hard to do.

You took care of me when I was sick,

and your love helped make me well.

You had rules,

and I learned that when I obeyed them,

my life was simpler, better, richer.

You were and are

the guiding light of my life.

My heart is filled with love for you,

my teacher, my friend, my mother.

PHOTOS OF CAPACITY BUILDING ACTIVITY,FIELD TRIP...

NEED, TYPES AND IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING AIDS

Need of Teaching Aids

1) Every individual has the tendency to forget. Proper use of teaching aids helps to retain more concept permanently.

2) Students can learn better when they are motivated properly through different teaching aids.

3) Teaching aids develop the proper image when the students see, hear taste and smell properly.

4) Teaching aids provide complete example for conceptual thinking.

5) The teaching aids create the environment of interest for the students.

6) Teaching aids helps to increase the vocabulary of the students.

7) Teaching aids helps the teacher to get sometime and make learning permanent.

8) Teaching aids provide direct experience to the students.

Types of Teaching Aids

There are many aids available these days. We may classify these aids as follows-

. Visual Aids

. Audio Aids

. Audio - Visual Aids

1) Visual Aids
The aids which use sense of vision are called Visual aids. For example :- actual objects, models, pictures, charts, maps, flash cards, flannel board, bulletin board, chalkboard, overhead projector, slides etc. Out of these black board and chalk are the commonest ones.

2) Audio Aids
The aids that involve the sense of hearing are called Audio aids. For example :- radio, tape recorder, gramophone etc.

3) Audio - Visual Aids
The aids which involve the sense of vision as well as hearing are called Audio- Visual aids. For example :- television, film projector, film strips etc.

Importance of Teaching aids

Teaching aids play an very important role in Teaching- Learning process. Importance of Teaching aids are as follows :-

1) Motivation
Teaching aids motivate the students so that they can learn better.

2) Clarification
Through teaching aids , the teacher clarify the subject matter more easily.

3) Discouragement of Cramming
Teaching aids can facilitate the proper understanding to the students which discourage the act of cramming.

4) Increase the Vocabulary
Teaching aids helps to increase the vocabulary of the students more effectively.

5) Saves Time and Money

6) Classroom Live and active
Teaching aids make the classroom live and active.

7) Avoids Dullness

8) Direct Experience
Teaching aids provide direct experience to the students

SHORT ARTICLE ON FRIENDSHIP!!!

                      Friendship as a relationship that has three essential components: reciprocal services, mutual contact and joint pursuits. Thus, it is possible to have at least two of these components and fall short of achieving a friendship. For example, the man who shovels snow for a lonely old lady and receives socks in return engages in reciprocal services and mutual contact, yet these two people are not friends because they lack joint pursuits. Essentially, friendly activities have shared components because friends are known to do things together such as correspond with each other in the form of letters, engage in conversation or pursue mutual hobbies.

These shared components of relationships can be referred to as “shared activity” and that constitutes a necessary, but an insufficient condition for friendship. In other words, all friends necessarily have shared activities, but not all relationships that involve this component are friendships. Another essential component of a friendship is the reason why people engage in shared activities. Specifically, friends engage in shared activity with each other because they are fond of each other and this is referred to as the “passions of friendship”. The passions are of a subjective nature implying that people have fond sentiments for their friends without requiring a moral justification for them. Thus, it is common for people to deeply sympathize with their friends even when it becomes evident that the friends in question are no longer morally commendable or respectable.

These sentiments of fondness or sympathies for a friend are based on the premise that the friend in question is liked. This aspect of friendships has both rational and irrational aspects in the sense that people often can provide only a very limited account of the reasons why they like their friends. For example, we can often explain that we are quite similar to our friends in many important respects and therefore, certain qualities about our friends make us like them. In an important respect, we can like people for having qualities that are not morally admirable or commendable in any objective sense of the term. Nonetheless, it is clear that if the individual ceased to display the qualities in question, we would stop regarding them as our friend.

However, even in those cases, it becomes difficult to explain why particular qualities in an individual make us like them. Essentially, friends generally do not provide a comprehensive account of the qualities in people that they like. By contrast, the element of liking manifests as a holistic and a subjective valuation quite similar to the one that emerges in evaluation of a painting. Additionally, friendship must generally be devoid of ulterior motives: one’s care for a friend is based on the fact that he or she is interested in enhancing their well-being. On the other hand, if it is discovered that our willingness to care for others has been inspired by self-interested motives, it would become obvious to the other person that we did not regard them as a friend in the first place. Although the passions play a role in friendships, they are not a sufficient condition for the emergence of such a relationship. Friends generally act on their passions by engaging in shared activities precisely because of these passions.

Another important issue concerning the role of duties in a friendship examining the argument that because friendship is a voluntary activity, duties must play a rather minimal role in it. The question of duty gains moral significance in light of the premise that people generally give preferential treatment to their friends. In light of this assertion, we should examine the moral implications of friendships. Specifically, it appears that such preferential treatment is fundamentally unjust because it leads us to treat our friends better than strangers when it is unclear if our friends deserve better treatment.