The study of literature is a fascinating activity that offers both teacher and learner manifold and tremendous benefits. For what other activity would enable the reader to enter into a multiplicity of worlds and savor the wonders of encountering, albeit vicariously, a vast variety of people (including magical creatures), cultures, places in reality and beyond; defy the boundaries of time to travel to and fro in the distant past then whiz back to the present at the turn of a page?
The greatest values to be gained from these benefits are the potential for growth in knowledge and wisdom; the acquisition of a keen understanding of human nature and of human relationships; and the freedom of choice to enter into each character’s heart and mind and live his life, his adventures fully during the course of one story, one novel, one poem. Such are the acknowledged values of engaging in the pleasurable study of literature.
To study literature, specifically to be able to teach it effectively, means that one must be familiar with the various methods, approaches, techniques, and strategies commonly utilized in such a serious task. To study literature means to study language for literature and language are inextricably bound together. Language indeed is the blood and meat of literature. Hence, the competent teacher of literature must know the structure of the language of the literary work being studied, be it written in English, Filipino, French, Spanish, etc.
To know a language means to know its sound system (phonology), its meaning system (morphology), and its syntactic system (syntax which deals with the structure of the utterances in the language). The three branches, linked together in the science of linguistics, are great aids in understanding the language of literature. Besides these three, two other very important branches of linguistics are semantics and the most recent addition, stylistics.
On this article I’m proceeding on the assumption that many, if not all, of the teachers of English and particularly of literature have had courses in linguistics and possess some knowledge of semantics and stylistics.
Stylistics, having to do largely with style, is a discipline concerned with the study of language of literature.” It is the study of language as art.” As the study of style, it “seeks to examine the expressive and suggestive devices which have been invented in order to enforce the power and penetration of speech.”
At the outset I suggest that the teacher should first utilize all the traditional methods of explicating a literary work and then attempt to introduce a refreshing new dimension, an innovative way of looking at the style of a specific literary piece from the point of view of stylistics. This activity could well fall under the enrichment activity as an exciting challenge to the more advanced classes in literature.
These conventional approaches which we will refer to as the “extratextual approaches,” include: the thematic approach, the interpretation of characters, the elements of narration, imagery and the poetic (expressive and suggestive) devices. These constitute the major elements inevitably discussed in the analysis of all forms of literary discourse.
I. Thematic Approach
The theme of any literary work is the main idea or message that the author wants to convey. The theme may have psychological, sociological, ethical, or didactic value. It is the skeletal framework or the “peg” from which the whole story hangs. The author comes up with an idea. It obsesses him and he is compelled to express it; to give flesh and all the “trappings”that give it a concrete form; and to embellish it, so0 to speak, so that it will have both internal and external values. These values distinguish it from all other works of literary art.
Thus, language becomes the author’s main linguistic tool-using sound, meaning, and sentence structure. But apart from the linguistic components, the author will have to clothe his story with style. This is how the theme is expanded. Otherwise, there will be no story or poem.
II. Interpretation of Characters
Under this approach there are four types of interpretation open to the teacher’s or the learner’s choice:
Psychologically oriented interpretation-the characters are representatives of certain mental types.
Sociological interpretation-the characters are treated as members of a certain moment of social history.
Metaphysical interpretation-the characters are images of certain human conditions, e.g., aggressors vs. victims, the damned creatures in hell, etc.
Ethical interpretation-the characters are representatives of a certain morality (or immortality).
This is more popularly known as the character analysis approach. Character analysis is an intriguing activity. Teachers often are expected to fall back on their knowledge of psychology in their attempt to help their students to understand the motivations of the characters in the story and how these affects their social behavior and the outcome of the story.
III. The Elements of Narration
Explicating a literary selection by means of formal analysis of the elements of narration involves analyzing the structure of the story, i.e., taking it apart, element by element. What are these formal elements? Most, if not all stories, contain these basic elements: setting, characters, plot. Each of these basic elements can be subjected or further analyzed to give the reader a comprehensive idea of what is meant by “the structure of the story”.
IV. Imagery and Poetic Devices
A. Imagery
Style is the primary focus of this particular approach which deals with imagery and poetic devices. It is defined as “a characteristics manner of expression in prose or verse; how a speaker or writer says whatever he/she says. The style of a work depends on its diction or choice of words, the figurative language used (frequency and types), its rhythmic patterns, the structure of its sentences, and its rhetorical devices and effects.”
Imagery refers to the images abounding in the literary work, created consciously or unconsciously by the writer’s artistry. There are two generally accepted meanings of image: one in the sense of “mental representation; the other in the sense of figure of speech expressing some similarity or analogy.”
A distinction must be made between imagery and analogy. “In imagery, the resemblance has a concrete and sensuous quality. In analogy, some striking or unexpected common element is observed in two seemingly disparate objects or experiences”.
A study of poetic devices, which are the stylistic resources of particular languages and which increase the power and impact of words, leads us to a “wide range of linguistic features which alone covers: emotive overtones or connotations, emphasis, rhythm, symmetry and the evocative elements.
Closely connected with expressiveness is the element of choice, i.e., the writer is free to choose between two or more alternatives or stylistic variants-the use of synonyms or the use of the inverted word order in place of the normal word order in sentence structure. Inversions, when resorted to, “provides for emphasis, delay and suspense, pathos, finality, irony, parody and impressionism.”
Evocative devices are popular sources of comedy and satire. They derive their stylistic effects from being associated with a particular milieu or register of style.
B. Poetic Devices
In poetry the pervasive employment of imagery, particulary the use of the metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech is a given. Without these poetic devices poetry is not possible. Add to these the other conventional features that attach to poetry as a literary genre.
Specifically, these conventional features comprise meter,(in its various forms), the suprasegmental features,(stress,pitch,intonation contours,juncture), rhyme, alliteration, enjambment,(the syntactic running over of the line), and caesura (a syntactic break inside the line, usually near the middle of the line).
It is a wise teacher who will use his sound judgment in choosing the approach and strategy that best suit to the particular literary work being studied. It is also the pragmatic, versatile teacher who will use a combination of the suggested methods, techniques, and strategies to the best advantage so that his/her students will grow along with him/her, expand their knowledge of the world and its diversity of cultures, and share in the enriching experiences found in literature.
Showing posts with label Issue 5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Issue 5. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Henry David Thoreau (1812 - 1862) by Ronan S. Estoque, DPA (January, 2008)
Mr. Thoreau principally advocated “Civil Disobedience”. Since the Philippines is one of the early pioneers in People Power, I would like to tackle the topic of “civil disobedience” in the republic.
Historically, I could only recall one incident in the pages of Philippine experience where civil disobedience happened – and this is the ‘tearing of the cedula’ led by Andres Bonifacio in Pugad Lawin, Balintawak. Now this is historically relevant because the “cedula” represents the community taxation that was being imposed by the Spanish Administration. When Andres Bonifacio led the tearing of the “cedula”, he was literally refusing to pay the community taxes, which indirectly states that he no longer recognizes the authority of the Spanish Administration to collect taxes.
Similarly, this was the same refusal that Mr. Thoreau did when he refused to pay the poll tax during the American-Mexican War. Though he still recognizes the supremacy of the American Government, he disagrees with the forwarded rationales for the conduct of the Mexican War.
Using the theoretical framework of Mr. Thoreau, Edsa I and Edsa II cannot possibly qualify as a “civil disobedience” (because it was not about tax payments) but are more appropriately classified as a “revolution”.
Strangely, the so-called Edsa III might even be considered as civil disobedience because by stretching the theoretical framework of Mr. Thoreau, the protesters of Edsa III destroyed a lot of government properties simply because they do not recognize the administration of GMA (i.e. legitimacy issues). Of course, this is a stretch – but the act of disobedience is there.
The concept of civil disobedience has evolved over time. Filipinos still needs to understand fully the uses and disadvantages of civil disobedience. In my personal estimation, success came to easy for the Filipinos (e.g. Edsa I and Edsa II) and now that there is a very strong clamor for GMA to resign, people are at a lost on how to conduct an effective civil disobedience.
Historically, I could only recall one incident in the pages of Philippine experience where civil disobedience happened – and this is the ‘tearing of the cedula’ led by Andres Bonifacio in Pugad Lawin, Balintawak. Now this is historically relevant because the “cedula” represents the community taxation that was being imposed by the Spanish Administration. When Andres Bonifacio led the tearing of the “cedula”, he was literally refusing to pay the community taxes, which indirectly states that he no longer recognizes the authority of the Spanish Administration to collect taxes.
Similarly, this was the same refusal that Mr. Thoreau did when he refused to pay the poll tax during the American-Mexican War. Though he still recognizes the supremacy of the American Government, he disagrees with the forwarded rationales for the conduct of the Mexican War.
Using the theoretical framework of Mr. Thoreau, Edsa I and Edsa II cannot possibly qualify as a “civil disobedience” (because it was not about tax payments) but are more appropriately classified as a “revolution”.
Strangely, the so-called Edsa III might even be considered as civil disobedience because by stretching the theoretical framework of Mr. Thoreau, the protesters of Edsa III destroyed a lot of government properties simply because they do not recognize the administration of GMA (i.e. legitimacy issues). Of course, this is a stretch – but the act of disobedience is there.
The concept of civil disobedience has evolved over time. Filipinos still needs to understand fully the uses and disadvantages of civil disobedience. In my personal estimation, success came to easy for the Filipinos (e.g. Edsa I and Edsa II) and now that there is a very strong clamor for GMA to resign, people are at a lost on how to conduct an effective civil disobedience.
Article XIV, Section 5 by Lorna V. Wy, MA (July, 2006)
Education is a vital possession that nobody can take this away from an individual. It is a powerful weapon and passport that leads to victory and triumph.
The state recognizes the role of education in its citizenry. The Constitution states in Article XIV, Section 1: The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all. However, Right to Education is not absolute, as held in Art. XIV Section 4 (1) of 1987 Philippine Constitution: The State recognizes the complimentary roles of public and private institutions in the educational system and shall exercise reasonable supervision and regulation of all educational institutions. Further, Section 5 (2), Academic Freedom shall be enjoyed in all institutions of higher learning.
As may be gleaned from the above provisions, such power to regulate is subject to the requirement of reasonableness. Moreover, the Constitution allows merely the regulation and supervision of educational institutions, not deprivation of their rights.
Freedom of educational institutions has been defined as the right of the school or college to decide for itself, its aims and objectives and how best to attain the. Free from outside coercion or interference save possibly when the overriding public welfare calls for some restraint. It has a wide sphere of autonomy certainly extending to the choice of students.
While it is true that an institution of learning has contractual obligation to afford its students a fair opportunity to complete the course they seek to pursue, since a contract creates a reciprocal rights and obligations, the obligation of the school to educate a student would imply a corresponding obligation on the part of the student to study and obey rules and regulation of the school. When a student commits a serious breach of discipline or failed to maintain the required academic standards, he forfeits his contractual right. In this connection, Supreme Court as held in University of San Agustin, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, 230 SCRA 761, educational institutions are afforded ample discretion to formulate reasonable rules and regulations in the admission of students, including setting of Academic Standards. Within the parameters thereof, they are competent to determine who are entitled to admission and re-admission.
What are the essentials freedoms subsumed in the term "Academic Freedom"?
Who may teach;
What may be taught;
How it shall be taught, and
Who may be admitted to study?
The right of the school to discipline its students is at once apparent in the freedom, "how it shall be taught" A school certainly cannot function in an atmosphere of anarchy. Thus, there can be no doubt that the establishment of an educational institution requires rules and regulation necessary for the maintenance of an orderly program and the creation of an educational environment conducive to learning. Such rules and regulation are equally necessary for the protection of students and faculty.
Moreover, the school has an interest in teaching the student's discipline, a necessary if not indispensable value in any field of learning. By instilling discipline, the school teaches discipline. It is the responsibility of the school to help its students grow and develop into mature, responsible, effective and worthy citizens of the community.
Even assuming a contract has been created from the moment the school admits the student the contract as a general rule has a period up to the extent of the duration of the course, which the student enrolled. However, the school has the right to terminate such contract if there is a breach violation of contractual obligation. As held in Ateneo de Manila v. Capulong, 222 SCRA 643, the higher court upheld the expulsion of students found guilty of hazing.
Academic freedom does not end when a student graduated or ceased its contract with the school.
May a university validly revoke a degree or honor it has conferred to a student after the graduation of the latter after finding that such degree or honor was obtained through fraud?
Supreme Court held in the case of UP Board of Regents v. CA and Arokiaswamy William Margaret Celine, G.R. No. 134625, Where it shown that the conferment of an honor or distinction was obtained through fraud, a university has the right to revoke or withdraw the honor or distinction it has thus conferred. This freedom of a university does not terminate upon the graduation of student, for it is precisely the graduation of such student that is in question.
Finally, the law provides equal protection and due process in the exercise of Academic Freedom; such freedom cannot be exercise whimsically, arbitrarily, and capriciously by both parties.
The state recognizes the role of education in its citizenry. The Constitution states in Article XIV, Section 1: The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all. However, Right to Education is not absolute, as held in Art. XIV Section 4 (1) of 1987 Philippine Constitution: The State recognizes the complimentary roles of public and private institutions in the educational system and shall exercise reasonable supervision and regulation of all educational institutions. Further, Section 5 (2), Academic Freedom shall be enjoyed in all institutions of higher learning.
As may be gleaned from the above provisions, such power to regulate is subject to the requirement of reasonableness. Moreover, the Constitution allows merely the regulation and supervision of educational institutions, not deprivation of their rights.
Freedom of educational institutions has been defined as the right of the school or college to decide for itself, its aims and objectives and how best to attain the. Free from outside coercion or interference save possibly when the overriding public welfare calls for some restraint. It has a wide sphere of autonomy certainly extending to the choice of students.
While it is true that an institution of learning has contractual obligation to afford its students a fair opportunity to complete the course they seek to pursue, since a contract creates a reciprocal rights and obligations, the obligation of the school to educate a student would imply a corresponding obligation on the part of the student to study and obey rules and regulation of the school. When a student commits a serious breach of discipline or failed to maintain the required academic standards, he forfeits his contractual right. In this connection, Supreme Court as held in University of San Agustin, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, 230 SCRA 761, educational institutions are afforded ample discretion to formulate reasonable rules and regulations in the admission of students, including setting of Academic Standards. Within the parameters thereof, they are competent to determine who are entitled to admission and re-admission.
What are the essentials freedoms subsumed in the term "Academic Freedom"?
Who may teach;
What may be taught;
How it shall be taught, and
Who may be admitted to study?
The right of the school to discipline its students is at once apparent in the freedom, "how it shall be taught" A school certainly cannot function in an atmosphere of anarchy. Thus, there can be no doubt that the establishment of an educational institution requires rules and regulation necessary for the maintenance of an orderly program and the creation of an educational environment conducive to learning. Such rules and regulation are equally necessary for the protection of students and faculty.
Moreover, the school has an interest in teaching the student's discipline, a necessary if not indispensable value in any field of learning. By instilling discipline, the school teaches discipline. It is the responsibility of the school to help its students grow and develop into mature, responsible, effective and worthy citizens of the community.
Even assuming a contract has been created from the moment the school admits the student the contract as a general rule has a period up to the extent of the duration of the course, which the student enrolled. However, the school has the right to terminate such contract if there is a breach violation of contractual obligation. As held in Ateneo de Manila v. Capulong, 222 SCRA 643, the higher court upheld the expulsion of students found guilty of hazing.
Academic freedom does not end when a student graduated or ceased its contract with the school.
May a university validly revoke a degree or honor it has conferred to a student after the graduation of the latter after finding that such degree or honor was obtained through fraud?
Supreme Court held in the case of UP Board of Regents v. CA and Arokiaswamy William Margaret Celine, G.R. No. 134625, Where it shown that the conferment of an honor or distinction was obtained through fraud, a university has the right to revoke or withdraw the honor or distinction it has thus conferred. This freedom of a university does not terminate upon the graduation of student, for it is precisely the graduation of such student that is in question.
Finally, the law provides equal protection and due process in the exercise of Academic Freedom; such freedom cannot be exercise whimsically, arbitrarily, and capriciously by both parties.
The Notion of Aristotle's Principle of Causality by Rogelio G. Dela Cruz, Ph. D (July, 2006)
Perhaps because of the influence of his father's medical profession, Aristotle's philosophy laid its principal stress on biology, in contrast to Plato's emphasis on mathematics. Aristotle regarded the world as made up of individuals (substances) occurring in fixed natural kinds (species). Each individual has its built-in specific pattern of development and grows toward proper self-realization as a specimen of its type. Growth, purpose, and direction are thus built into nature. Although science studies general kinds, according to Aristotle, these kinds find their existence in particular individuals. Science and philosophy must therefore balance, not simply choose between, the claims of empiricism (observation and sense experience) and formalism (rational deduction).
One of the most distinctive of Aristotle's philosophic contributions was a new notion of causality. Each thing or event, he thought, has more than one "reason" that helps to explain what, why, and where it is. Earlier Greek thinkers had tended to assume that only one sort of cause can be really explanatory; Aristotle proposed four.
These four causes are the material cause, the matter out of which a thing is made; the efficient cause, the source of motion, generation, or change; the formal cause, which is the species, kind, or type; and the final cause, the goal, or full development, of an individual, or the intended function of a construction or invention. Thus, a young lion is made up of tissues and organs, its material cause; the efficient cause is its parents, who generated it; the formal cause is its species, lion; and its final cause is its built-in drive toward becoming a mature specimen. In different contexts, while the causes are the same four, they apply analogically. Thus, the material cause of a statue is the marble from which it was carved; the efficient cause is the sculptor; the formal cause is the shape the sculptor realized-Hermes, perhaps, or Aphrodite; and the final cause is its function, to be a work of fine art.
In each context, Aristotle insists that something can be better understood when its causes can be stated in specific terms rather than in general terms. Thus, it is more informative to know that a sculptor made the statue than to know that an artist made it; and even more informative to know that Polycleitus chiseled it rather than simply that a sculptor did so.
Aristotle thought that his causal pattern was the ideal key for organizing knowledge. His lecture notes present impressive evidence of the power of this scheme.
One of the most distinctive of Aristotle's philosophic contributions was a new notion of causality. Each thing or event, he thought, has more than one "reason" that helps to explain what, why, and where it is. Earlier Greek thinkers had tended to assume that only one sort of cause can be really explanatory; Aristotle proposed four.
These four causes are the material cause, the matter out of which a thing is made; the efficient cause, the source of motion, generation, or change; the formal cause, which is the species, kind, or type; and the final cause, the goal, or full development, of an individual, or the intended function of a construction or invention. Thus, a young lion is made up of tissues and organs, its material cause; the efficient cause is its parents, who generated it; the formal cause is its species, lion; and its final cause is its built-in drive toward becoming a mature specimen. In different contexts, while the causes are the same four, they apply analogically. Thus, the material cause of a statue is the marble from which it was carved; the efficient cause is the sculptor; the formal cause is the shape the sculptor realized-Hermes, perhaps, or Aphrodite; and the final cause is its function, to be a work of fine art.
In each context, Aristotle insists that something can be better understood when its causes can be stated in specific terms rather than in general terms. Thus, it is more informative to know that a sculptor made the statue than to know that an artist made it; and even more informative to know that Polycleitus chiseled it rather than simply that a sculptor did so.
Aristotle thought that his causal pattern was the ideal key for organizing knowledge. His lecture notes present impressive evidence of the power of this scheme.
Healing Your Painful Memories by Rosalin SR Camacho (July, 2006)
We are all hurt as we journey through this life. Some hurts we are able to let go of, but others we hold on to, letting them taint the joy of the rest of our lives. The article here, which I read long time ago from Catholic Update, has enlightened me so much that I would want to share it with you.
" Once a teacher gave me an F on the test" a 20-year old woman recalls, " because she thought I'd cheated. Years later I saw her and deliberately snubbed her".
" I never forgave my mother," a middle-aged man says. " She was drunk all the time when we were growing up. I left home when I was eighteen and never saw her again, even though I heard that she quit drinking."
To continue carrying hurts like these, though, is to choose pain. Just as we would seek help immediately for a gunshot wound or a dog bite, we need to seek the same healing for emotional wounds. Not doing so can damage our spiritual, emotional and even physical well-being. Jesus tells us to let go of our grudges and do good to those who hate us. Psychologists give us similar advice. They tell us that we have the power to lighten the burdens we carry and that forgiving is one way of doing that. And some medical scientists say that carrying emotional hurts can precipitate heart disease, cancer, digestive problems, high blood pressure and mental breakdown.
Our spiritual lives are affected, too, when we cherish past hurts. We find it difficult to be Christ for those around us, and we block the Christ who wants to relate to us through others.
Here are seven (7) suggestions for healing those memories that keep you from living life fully.
Admit that you are hurt.
Often it's hard to admit we're hurting. " I'm okay", we stoically tell ourselves, and we tell others, "Big boys and girls don't cry". But admitting you're hurting is one of the first steps toward healing. "The more we are in touch with reality and cope with it, no matter how painful it may be, the better mental and emotional well- being we enjoy."
Know that you are loved.
The second step in healing a hurt is becoming aware of how much you are loved. In love, God offers us Jesus to be united with us. We let this awareness in; we allow new healing tissue to form around life's wounds. As we open our eyes to the many ways God's love is manifested in our lives, and in the love that other have for us, we begin to risk living in a present awareness of love instead of with past hurts.
Don't automatically blame yourself or the things you suffer.
It's okay to be angry at misfortune or with someone who has hurt you. Dennis and Matthew Linn, who have co-authored eight books on healing life's hurts said that anger at an emotional hurt is a healthy reaction as pain from a physical hurt.
Share your story of hurt.
Tell the story of your hurt to a trusted friend. Telling your story to a wounded healer and allowing yourself to be comforted by that person is another step toward letting the hurt go. It is therefore unhealthy for a person to keep his hurts all inside.
Turn to Jesus for healing.
Jesus is t he greatest healer Christians know, and the most trustworthy friend we have. Through out the gospel we see the physically, spiritually, and emotionally wounded going to Him.
Be patient and persistent.
Healing takes time. We need to have the persistence of the Canaanite woman whom Jesus first ignored and then refused to respond to after her pleas to heal her daughter (Matthew 15:21-28)
Discover the healing power of centering prayer.
Another action that can heal hurts - a more passive yet intense kind of action - is to practice the kind of prayer in which we let go of everything (words, thoughts, prayers, techniques, images, everything) and simply go very quietly to the center of our being where God is. In this healing prayer, we are simply aware of our oneness with God. It's called centering prayer. Spiritual writer Thomas Keating says there are some hurts that are so deep that only this kind of prayer can heal them. If we take time (perhaps 20 minutes once or twice a day) to be with God in this kind of "c entering" prayer, we will find that our life is happier, our burdens are lighter, our hurts are healed. How do you know when you're healed? Most spiritual writers says that these happens when you see value in the experience that hurt you. Forgetting is not one of the signs of being healed. You maybe healed of the hurt, but still remember it. Whoever said that "To forgive is to forget" was over simplifying.
" Once a teacher gave me an F on the test" a 20-year old woman recalls, " because she thought I'd cheated. Years later I saw her and deliberately snubbed her".
" I never forgave my mother," a middle-aged man says. " She was drunk all the time when we were growing up. I left home when I was eighteen and never saw her again, even though I heard that she quit drinking."
To continue carrying hurts like these, though, is to choose pain. Just as we would seek help immediately for a gunshot wound or a dog bite, we need to seek the same healing for emotional wounds. Not doing so can damage our spiritual, emotional and even physical well-being. Jesus tells us to let go of our grudges and do good to those who hate us. Psychologists give us similar advice. They tell us that we have the power to lighten the burdens we carry and that forgiving is one way of doing that. And some medical scientists say that carrying emotional hurts can precipitate heart disease, cancer, digestive problems, high blood pressure and mental breakdown.
Our spiritual lives are affected, too, when we cherish past hurts. We find it difficult to be Christ for those around us, and we block the Christ who wants to relate to us through others.
Here are seven (7) suggestions for healing those memories that keep you from living life fully.
Admit that you are hurt.
Often it's hard to admit we're hurting. " I'm okay", we stoically tell ourselves, and we tell others, "Big boys and girls don't cry". But admitting you're hurting is one of the first steps toward healing. "The more we are in touch with reality and cope with it, no matter how painful it may be, the better mental and emotional well- being we enjoy."
Know that you are loved.
The second step in healing a hurt is becoming aware of how much you are loved. In love, God offers us Jesus to be united with us. We let this awareness in; we allow new healing tissue to form around life's wounds. As we open our eyes to the many ways God's love is manifested in our lives, and in the love that other have for us, we begin to risk living in a present awareness of love instead of with past hurts.
Don't automatically blame yourself or the things you suffer.
It's okay to be angry at misfortune or with someone who has hurt you. Dennis and Matthew Linn, who have co-authored eight books on healing life's hurts said that anger at an emotional hurt is a healthy reaction as pain from a physical hurt.
Share your story of hurt.
Tell the story of your hurt to a trusted friend. Telling your story to a wounded healer and allowing yourself to be comforted by that person is another step toward letting the hurt go. It is therefore unhealthy for a person to keep his hurts all inside.
Turn to Jesus for healing.
Jesus is t he greatest healer Christians know, and the most trustworthy friend we have. Through out the gospel we see the physically, spiritually, and emotionally wounded going to Him.
Be patient and persistent.
Healing takes time. We need to have the persistence of the Canaanite woman whom Jesus first ignored and then refused to respond to after her pleas to heal her daughter (Matthew 15:21-28)
Discover the healing power of centering prayer.
Another action that can heal hurts - a more passive yet intense kind of action - is to practice the kind of prayer in which we let go of everything (words, thoughts, prayers, techniques, images, everything) and simply go very quietly to the center of our being where God is. In this healing prayer, we are simply aware of our oneness with God. It's called centering prayer. Spiritual writer Thomas Keating says there are some hurts that are so deep that only this kind of prayer can heal them. If we take time (perhaps 20 minutes once or twice a day) to be with God in this kind of "c entering" prayer, we will find that our life is happier, our burdens are lighter, our hurts are healed. How do you know when you're healed? Most spiritual writers says that these happens when you see value in the experience that hurt you. Forgetting is not one of the signs of being healed. You maybe healed of the hurt, but still remember it. Whoever said that "To forgive is to forget" was over simplifying.
Confluence of Philosophy and Religion in the Middle Ages: Justin Martyr's Apologia by Jeffrey L. Bartilet (July, 2006)
The "Dialogue with Trypho", one of the earliest attempts of Christian intelligentsia to bridge the reverberating tide of religious views and teachings with the realm of natural reason, provides a provocative apercu to the antinomies of religious and ideological positions in the period dramatic historical changes in the second century after the birth of Christ within the Roman Empire. A period characterized by peace and prosperity yet imperial concerns were much focused on geopolitical expansion, thus nascent administrative predicaments plagued the Empire, a socio-political scene were contending ideological forces manifest themselves not only the practice of faith but also in writing.
Justin Martyr, the author of the said dialogue, stands as a precipice in this period. It is in Justin's dialogue where we can find tirades of virulent religious attacks to the Early Greek traditions of philosophy and the Schools and sects stemming therefrom, as well as to non Christian religions particularly Judaism, carefully laid out in a form or style reminiscent of Plato's extant writings (Popularly known as The Dialogues). The attack proceeds in a way of a sojourn of the Justin in search of the true philosophy where he enters the different Schools:
I will explain to you... my views on this subject. Philosophy is indeed one's greatest possession, and is most precious in the sight of God to whom alone leads us and to whom it unites us, and they in truth are holy men who have applied themselves to philosophy. But many have failed to discover the nature of philosophy, and the reason why it was sent down to men... When I first desired to contact one of these philosphers, I placed myself under the tutelage of a certain Stoic. After spending time with him and learning nothing new about God (for my instructor had no knowledge of God, nor did he consider such knowledge necessary), I left him and turned to a Peripatetic who considered himself an astute teacher. After a few days with him he demanded that we settle the matter of my tuition fee in such a way that our association would not be unprofitable to him. Accordingly, I left him, because I did not consider him a real philosopher. Since my spirit still yearned to hear the specific and the excellent meaning of philosophy, I approached a very famous Pythagorean, who took great pride in his own wisdom. In my interview with him, when I expressed a desire to become his pupil, he asked me, "What? Do you know music, astronomy, and geometry? How do you expect to comprehend any of those things that are conducive to happiness, if you are not first acquainted with those objects, which draw your mind away from objects?
In this particular passage we can clearly notice that Justin equates philosophy with search for God.
A close examination of the dialogue reveals a certain enmity to non-Christian religions and Greek Schools of thought (Stoicism, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans and the Platonists) and a privileging of Christianity, providing it with a certain leverage by presenting it to the center of the ideological theatre, as "the one and only true philosophy."
Another point that is worth noting is that it seems that the dialogue is strategically aimed at a refutation and a clarification or an authentic "representation" of what truly is the Christian religion. The Dialogue With Trypho can be said to be a religious stratagem for the Christians represented by the learned believers, and Justin, being at the forefront of this battle for recognition and centering provides the textual backing of this struggle by raising it to the ideological and cultural sphere whose captive audience, is of course, the educated, those occupying privileged positions (administrators, senators, etc.) in the Roman Empires in the reign of Antonius Pius and later, Marcus Aurelius. Clearly, the apologia of Justin is not "saying sorry" but a defense of one's faith.
Justin Martyr, the author of the said dialogue, stands as a precipice in this period. It is in Justin's dialogue where we can find tirades of virulent religious attacks to the Early Greek traditions of philosophy and the Schools and sects stemming therefrom, as well as to non Christian religions particularly Judaism, carefully laid out in a form or style reminiscent of Plato's extant writings (Popularly known as The Dialogues). The attack proceeds in a way of a sojourn of the Justin in search of the true philosophy where he enters the different Schools:
I will explain to you... my views on this subject. Philosophy is indeed one's greatest possession, and is most precious in the sight of God to whom alone leads us and to whom it unites us, and they in truth are holy men who have applied themselves to philosophy. But many have failed to discover the nature of philosophy, and the reason why it was sent down to men... When I first desired to contact one of these philosphers, I placed myself under the tutelage of a certain Stoic. After spending time with him and learning nothing new about God (for my instructor had no knowledge of God, nor did he consider such knowledge necessary), I left him and turned to a Peripatetic who considered himself an astute teacher. After a few days with him he demanded that we settle the matter of my tuition fee in such a way that our association would not be unprofitable to him. Accordingly, I left him, because I did not consider him a real philosopher. Since my spirit still yearned to hear the specific and the excellent meaning of philosophy, I approached a very famous Pythagorean, who took great pride in his own wisdom. In my interview with him, when I expressed a desire to become his pupil, he asked me, "What? Do you know music, astronomy, and geometry? How do you expect to comprehend any of those things that are conducive to happiness, if you are not first acquainted with those objects, which draw your mind away from objects?
In this particular passage we can clearly notice that Justin equates philosophy with search for God.
A close examination of the dialogue reveals a certain enmity to non-Christian religions and Greek Schools of thought (Stoicism, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans and the Platonists) and a privileging of Christianity, providing it with a certain leverage by presenting it to the center of the ideological theatre, as "the one and only true philosophy."
Another point that is worth noting is that it seems that the dialogue is strategically aimed at a refutation and a clarification or an authentic "representation" of what truly is the Christian religion. The Dialogue With Trypho can be said to be a religious stratagem for the Christians represented by the learned believers, and Justin, being at the forefront of this battle for recognition and centering provides the textual backing of this struggle by raising it to the ideological and cultural sphere whose captive audience, is of course, the educated, those occupying privileged positions (administrators, senators, etc.) in the Roman Empires in the reign of Antonius Pius and later, Marcus Aurelius. Clearly, the apologia of Justin is not "saying sorry" but a defense of one's faith.
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc by Ronan S. Estoque, MA (July, 2006)
The title is a Latin phrase with the literal translation of "after therefore because of it". In an English translation, the phrase does not even convey a complete thought; in fact, such is not even a sentence. In Latin however, the gist is that the past is just the harbinger of the present.
A couple of weeks ago, a lone Israeli soldier was kidnapped by some militant Palestinians and in exchange for his release - they are demanding the release of all political prisoners being held by the Israeli government. The policy of "no dealing with terrorists" prevailed and the result is a systematic bombing of selected Palestinian infrastructures in Gaza.
Over the weekend, two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped again and this time by the militant Lebanese Hezbolla (with the same demand) and in response to the kidnapping. The Israeli forces are systematically bombing Lebanon.
The Palestinians and the Lebanese are not taking this aggression sitting down, they are also responding with their own brand of violence, by bombing the nearest accessible town (e.g. Haifa).
The violence that was brewing for decades were finally unleashed and the unwitting participants (the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the Lebanese are all claiming to be unwilling players in this violent war episode) are all reaping the results of justified/unreasonable aggression. My sole concern is that the people who really deserves to be crippled and killed are the ones who are unscathed by this unnecessary and costly battle.
The Arab states surrounding Israel might finally converge and form an alliance that would once and for all settle the riddle and dilemma of a sovereign Jewish state.
I wouldn't even attempt to forecast the outcome of that equation. Suffice it to say that civilian casualties or collateral damage is certain to run in thousands with millions of economic implications and cost for all combatants.
Somewhere, diplomacy must prevail and put a stop to this violence. There will be no winners in this contest, only losers. The republic though thousand of miles away from the armed conflict will certainly feel the pinch in terms of higher oil crude prices. Because indirectly, instability in the Middle East is usually equated with higher oil prices for the world market. Hence, we say - post hoc ergo propter hoc.
A couple of weeks ago, a lone Israeli soldier was kidnapped by some militant Palestinians and in exchange for his release - they are demanding the release of all political prisoners being held by the Israeli government. The policy of "no dealing with terrorists" prevailed and the result is a systematic bombing of selected Palestinian infrastructures in Gaza.
Over the weekend, two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped again and this time by the militant Lebanese Hezbolla (with the same demand) and in response to the kidnapping. The Israeli forces are systematically bombing Lebanon.
The Palestinians and the Lebanese are not taking this aggression sitting down, they are also responding with their own brand of violence, by bombing the nearest accessible town (e.g. Haifa).
The violence that was brewing for decades were finally unleashed and the unwitting participants (the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the Lebanese are all claiming to be unwilling players in this violent war episode) are all reaping the results of justified/unreasonable aggression. My sole concern is that the people who really deserves to be crippled and killed are the ones who are unscathed by this unnecessary and costly battle.
The Arab states surrounding Israel might finally converge and form an alliance that would once and for all settle the riddle and dilemma of a sovereign Jewish state.
I wouldn't even attempt to forecast the outcome of that equation. Suffice it to say that civilian casualties or collateral damage is certain to run in thousands with millions of economic implications and cost for all combatants.
Somewhere, diplomacy must prevail and put a stop to this violence. There will be no winners in this contest, only losers. The republic though thousand of miles away from the armed conflict will certainly feel the pinch in terms of higher oil crude prices. Because indirectly, instability in the Middle East is usually equated with higher oil prices for the world market. Hence, we say - post hoc ergo propter hoc.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Historical Background of Organizational Behavior by Rogelio G. Dela Cruz, Ph.D (October, 2005)
Pyramids and many other huge monuments and structures were built, armies and governments were organized and civilizations spread over vast territories. This took organization and management. There are some writings from antiquity that suggest that systematic approach to management and organization did evolve and were transmitted to others. But the primary influences in organizations and management today stem from more recent events.
Some would claim that to begin to understand our organizations today we need to look at the Protestant Reformation. A new ethics began to evolve; an ethics that shifted the orientation of one's life from the "next world" to this world. This ethics is best embodied in quotes from Luther that all men possess a calling in the world and the fulfillment of its obligation is a divinely imposed duty and Calvin who argued that disciplined work raises a person above the calling into which he was born and is the only sign of his election by God to salvation... The soul is naked before God without Church or communion-religion is a personal matter; worldly success and prosperity are construed as signs of God's approval.
Over time, the Protestant Reformation provided an ideological foundation for the modern industrial society by suggesting that work be now a profound moral obligation, a path to eternal salvation. The focus is this world and materialism, not next world. The individual's obligation is self-discipline, and systematic work. It should be clear that the factory system, which began to evolve late in the 18th Century, could never have flourished without the ideological underpinnings of this profound shift in philosophy as, exemplified by Ethics.
The Scientific Management
The Industrial Revolution that started with the development of steam power and the creation of large factories in the late Eighteenth Century lead to great changes in the production of textiles and other products. The factories that evolved created tremendous challenges to organization and management that had not been confronted before. Managing these new factories and later new entities like railroads with the requirement of managing large flows of material, people, and information over large distances created the need for some methods for dealing with the new management issues.
The most important of those who began to create a science of management was Frederic Winslow Taylor, (1856-1915). Taylor was one of the firsts to attempt to systematically analyze human behavior at work. His model was the machine with its cheap, interchangeable parts, each of which does one specific function. Taylor attempted to do to complex organizations what engineers had done to machines and this involved making individuals into the equivalent of machine parts. Just as machine parts were easily interchangeable, cheap, and passive, so too should the human parts be the same in the Machine model of organizations.
This involved breaking down each task to its smallest unit and to figure out the one best way to do each job. Then the engineer, after analyzing the job should teach it to the worker and make sure the worker does only those motions essential to the task. Taylor attempted to make a science for each element of work and restrict behavioral alternatives facing worker. Taylor looked at interaction of human characteristics, social environment, task, and physical environment, capacity, speed, durability, and cost. The overall goal was to remove human variability.
The results were profound. Productivity under Taylorism went up dramatically. New departments arose such as industrial engineering, personnel, and quality control. There was also growth in middle management as there evolved a separation of planning from operations. Rational rules replaced trial and error; management became formalized and efficiency increased. Of course, this did not come about without resistance. First the old-line managers resisted the notion that management was a science to be studied not something one was born with (or inherited). Then of course, many workers resisted what some considered the dehumanization of work. To be fair, Taylor also studied issues such as fatigue and safety and urged management to study the relationship between work breaks, and the length of the work day and productivity and convinced many companies that the careful introduction of breaks and a shorter day could increase productivity. Nevertheless, the industrial engineer with his stop watch and clip-board, standing over you measuring each little part of the job and one's movements became a hated figure and lead to much sabotage and group resistance
The Human Relations Movement
Despite the economic progress brought about in part by Scientific Management, critics were calling attention to the seamy side of progress, which included severe labor/management conflict, apathy, boredom, and wasted human resources. These concerns lead a number of researchers to examine the discrepancy between how an organization was supposed to work versus how the workers actually behaved. In addition, factors like World War I, developments in psychology (eg. Freud) and later the depression, all brought into question some of the basic assumptions of the Scientific Management School. One of the primary critics of the time, Elton Mayo, claimed that this alienation stemmed from the breakdown of the social structures caused by industrialization, the factory system, and its related outcomes like growing urbanization.
Some would claim that to begin to understand our organizations today we need to look at the Protestant Reformation. A new ethics began to evolve; an ethics that shifted the orientation of one's life from the "next world" to this world. This ethics is best embodied in quotes from Luther that all men possess a calling in the world and the fulfillment of its obligation is a divinely imposed duty and Calvin who argued that disciplined work raises a person above the calling into which he was born and is the only sign of his election by God to salvation... The soul is naked before God without Church or communion-religion is a personal matter; worldly success and prosperity are construed as signs of God's approval.
Over time, the Protestant Reformation provided an ideological foundation for the modern industrial society by suggesting that work be now a profound moral obligation, a path to eternal salvation. The focus is this world and materialism, not next world. The individual's obligation is self-discipline, and systematic work. It should be clear that the factory system, which began to evolve late in the 18th Century, could never have flourished without the ideological underpinnings of this profound shift in philosophy as, exemplified by Ethics.
The Scientific Management
The Industrial Revolution that started with the development of steam power and the creation of large factories in the late Eighteenth Century lead to great changes in the production of textiles and other products. The factories that evolved created tremendous challenges to organization and management that had not been confronted before. Managing these new factories and later new entities like railroads with the requirement of managing large flows of material, people, and information over large distances created the need for some methods for dealing with the new management issues.
The most important of those who began to create a science of management was Frederic Winslow Taylor, (1856-1915). Taylor was one of the firsts to attempt to systematically analyze human behavior at work. His model was the machine with its cheap, interchangeable parts, each of which does one specific function. Taylor attempted to do to complex organizations what engineers had done to machines and this involved making individuals into the equivalent of machine parts. Just as machine parts were easily interchangeable, cheap, and passive, so too should the human parts be the same in the Machine model of organizations.
This involved breaking down each task to its smallest unit and to figure out the one best way to do each job. Then the engineer, after analyzing the job should teach it to the worker and make sure the worker does only those motions essential to the task. Taylor attempted to make a science for each element of work and restrict behavioral alternatives facing worker. Taylor looked at interaction of human characteristics, social environment, task, and physical environment, capacity, speed, durability, and cost. The overall goal was to remove human variability.
The results were profound. Productivity under Taylorism went up dramatically. New departments arose such as industrial engineering, personnel, and quality control. There was also growth in middle management as there evolved a separation of planning from operations. Rational rules replaced trial and error; management became formalized and efficiency increased. Of course, this did not come about without resistance. First the old-line managers resisted the notion that management was a science to be studied not something one was born with (or inherited). Then of course, many workers resisted what some considered the dehumanization of work. To be fair, Taylor also studied issues such as fatigue and safety and urged management to study the relationship between work breaks, and the length of the work day and productivity and convinced many companies that the careful introduction of breaks and a shorter day could increase productivity. Nevertheless, the industrial engineer with his stop watch and clip-board, standing over you measuring each little part of the job and one's movements became a hated figure and lead to much sabotage and group resistance
The Human Relations Movement
Despite the economic progress brought about in part by Scientific Management, critics were calling attention to the seamy side of progress, which included severe labor/management conflict, apathy, boredom, and wasted human resources. These concerns lead a number of researchers to examine the discrepancy between how an organization was supposed to work versus how the workers actually behaved. In addition, factors like World War I, developments in psychology (eg. Freud) and later the depression, all brought into question some of the basic assumptions of the Scientific Management School. One of the primary critics of the time, Elton Mayo, claimed that this alienation stemmed from the breakdown of the social structures caused by industrialization, the factory system, and its related outcomes like growing urbanization.
On Scarlet Letter by Marian Jeanette G. Laxa, MA (October, 2005)
Life is full of intricate developments, complex decisions and association with others, and is not always fair. Try as we might, we can never change the fact that in every path we take, always hindrances are on the way. Life is not paradise of endless happiness, but a paradise of merciless love. Love that tends to make the world go round, as they always say.
Contrary to the maxim, love is also a tool that shatters life, properties and even personality. Indeed, love neither always tastes as sweet as chocolates nor smells as sweet as roses. Love is a poison that leads us to our inevitable end.
"Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that opens our heart and mind in a wider perspective of love, of forbidden love and an unconditional love. The characters maybe a reflection of your personality, moreover, the story itself is like yours, so, what are you going to do? Will you stay in secret or let other people learn the truth? Will you save the one you love in exchange of your dignity and sacrifices? Will you give up or move on?
In June 1642, in the Puritan town of Boston, a crowd gathers to witness an official punishment. A young woman, Hester Prynne, has been found guilty of adultery and must wear a scarlet A on her dress as a sign of shame. Furhermore, she must stand on the scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation. As Hester approaches the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity. When demanded and cajoled to name the father of her child, Hester refuses.
AS Hester looks out over the crowd, she notices a small, misshapen man and recognizes him as her long lost husband, who has been presumed lost at sea. When the husband sees Hester's shame, he asks a man in the crowd about her and is told the story of his wife's adultery. He angrily exclaims that the child's father, the partner in the adulterous act, should also be punished and vows to find the man. He chooses a new name- Roger Chillingworth- to aid in his plan.
Reverend John Wilson and the minister of her church, Arthur Dimmesdale, question Hester, but she refuses to name her lover. After she returns to her prison cell, the jailer brings in Roger Chillingworth, a physician, to calm Hester and her child with his roots and herbs. Dismissing the jailer, Chillingworth first treats Pearl, Hester's baby, and then demand to know the name of the child's father. When Hester refuses, he insists that she never reveal that he is her husband. If she ever does so, he warns her, he will destroy the child's father. Hester agrees to Chillingworth's terms even though she suspects she will regret it.
Following her release from prison, Hester settles in a cottage at the edge of town and earns a meager living with her needlework. She lives a quiet, somber life with her daughter, Pearl. She is troubled by her daughter's unusual character. As an infant, Pearl is fascinated by the scarlet A. as she grows older, Pearl becomes capricious and unruly. Her conduct starts rumors, and, not surprisingly, the church members suggest Pearl be taken away from Hester.
Hester, hearing the rumors that she may lose Pearl, goes to speak to Governor Bellingham. With him are Reverends Wilson and Dimmesdale. When Wilson questions Pearl about her catechism, she refuses to answer, even though she knows the correct response, thus jeopardizing her guardship. Hester appeals to Reverend Dimmesdale in desperation, and the minister persuades the governor to let Pearl remain in Hester's care.
Because Reverend Dimmesdale's health has begun to fail, the townspeople are happy to have Chillingworth, a newly arrived physician, take up lodgings with their beloved minister. Being in such close contact with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth begins to suspect that the minister's illness is the result of some unconfessed guilt. He applies psychological pressure to the minister because he suspects Dimmesdale to be Pearl's father. One evening, pulling the sleeping Dimmesdale's vestment aside, Chillingworth sees something startling on the sleeping minister's pale chest: a scarlet A.
Tormented by his guilty conscience, Dimmesdale goes to the square where Hester was punished years earlier. Climbing the scaffold, he sees Hester and Pearl and calls to them to join him. He admits his guilt to them but cannot find the courage to do so publicly. Suddenly Dimmesdale sees a meteor forming what appears to be a gigantic A in the sky; simultaneously, Pearl points toward the shadowy figure of Roger Chillingworth. Hester, shocked by Dimmesdale's deterioration, decides to obtain a release from her vow of silence to her husband. In her discussion of this with Chillingworth, she tells him his obsession with revenge must be stopped in order to save his own soul.
Several days later, Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest, where she removes the scarlet letter from her dress and identifies her husband and his desire for revenge. In this conversation, she convinces Dimmesdale to leave Boston in secret on a ship to Europe where they can start life anew. Renewed by this plan, the minister seems to gain new energy. Pearl, however, refuses to acknowledge either of them until Hester replaces her symbol of shame on her dress.
Returning to town, Dimmesdale loses heart in their plan: He has become a changed man and knows he is dying. Meanwhile, the captain of the ship on which she arranged passage that Roger Chillingworth will also be a passenger informs Hester.
On Election Day, Dimmesdale gives what is declared to be one of his most inspired sermons. But as the procession leaves the church, Dimmesdale stumbles and almost falls. Seeing Hester and Pearl in the crowd watching the parade, he climbs upon the scaffold and confesses his sin, dying in Hester's arms. Later, witnesses swear that they saw a stigmata in the form of a scarlet A upon his chest. Chillingworth, losing his revenge, dies shortly thereafter and leaves pearl a great deal of money, enabling her to go to Europe with her mother and make a wealthy marriage.
Several years later, Hester returns to Boston, resumes wearing the scarlet letter, and becomes a person to whom other women turn for solace. When she dies, she is buried near the grave of Dimmesdale, and they share a simple slate tombstone with the inscription "On a field, sable, the letter A gules."
Contrary to the maxim, love is also a tool that shatters life, properties and even personality. Indeed, love neither always tastes as sweet as chocolates nor smells as sweet as roses. Love is a poison that leads us to our inevitable end.
"Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that opens our heart and mind in a wider perspective of love, of forbidden love and an unconditional love. The characters maybe a reflection of your personality, moreover, the story itself is like yours, so, what are you going to do? Will you stay in secret or let other people learn the truth? Will you save the one you love in exchange of your dignity and sacrifices? Will you give up or move on?
In June 1642, in the Puritan town of Boston, a crowd gathers to witness an official punishment. A young woman, Hester Prynne, has been found guilty of adultery and must wear a scarlet A on her dress as a sign of shame. Furhermore, she must stand on the scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation. As Hester approaches the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity. When demanded and cajoled to name the father of her child, Hester refuses.
AS Hester looks out over the crowd, she notices a small, misshapen man and recognizes him as her long lost husband, who has been presumed lost at sea. When the husband sees Hester's shame, he asks a man in the crowd about her and is told the story of his wife's adultery. He angrily exclaims that the child's father, the partner in the adulterous act, should also be punished and vows to find the man. He chooses a new name- Roger Chillingworth- to aid in his plan.
Reverend John Wilson and the minister of her church, Arthur Dimmesdale, question Hester, but she refuses to name her lover. After she returns to her prison cell, the jailer brings in Roger Chillingworth, a physician, to calm Hester and her child with his roots and herbs. Dismissing the jailer, Chillingworth first treats Pearl, Hester's baby, and then demand to know the name of the child's father. When Hester refuses, he insists that she never reveal that he is her husband. If she ever does so, he warns her, he will destroy the child's father. Hester agrees to Chillingworth's terms even though she suspects she will regret it.
Following her release from prison, Hester settles in a cottage at the edge of town and earns a meager living with her needlework. She lives a quiet, somber life with her daughter, Pearl. She is troubled by her daughter's unusual character. As an infant, Pearl is fascinated by the scarlet A. as she grows older, Pearl becomes capricious and unruly. Her conduct starts rumors, and, not surprisingly, the church members suggest Pearl be taken away from Hester.
Hester, hearing the rumors that she may lose Pearl, goes to speak to Governor Bellingham. With him are Reverends Wilson and Dimmesdale. When Wilson questions Pearl about her catechism, she refuses to answer, even though she knows the correct response, thus jeopardizing her guardship. Hester appeals to Reverend Dimmesdale in desperation, and the minister persuades the governor to let Pearl remain in Hester's care.
Because Reverend Dimmesdale's health has begun to fail, the townspeople are happy to have Chillingworth, a newly arrived physician, take up lodgings with their beloved minister. Being in such close contact with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth begins to suspect that the minister's illness is the result of some unconfessed guilt. He applies psychological pressure to the minister because he suspects Dimmesdale to be Pearl's father. One evening, pulling the sleeping Dimmesdale's vestment aside, Chillingworth sees something startling on the sleeping minister's pale chest: a scarlet A.
Tormented by his guilty conscience, Dimmesdale goes to the square where Hester was punished years earlier. Climbing the scaffold, he sees Hester and Pearl and calls to them to join him. He admits his guilt to them but cannot find the courage to do so publicly. Suddenly Dimmesdale sees a meteor forming what appears to be a gigantic A in the sky; simultaneously, Pearl points toward the shadowy figure of Roger Chillingworth. Hester, shocked by Dimmesdale's deterioration, decides to obtain a release from her vow of silence to her husband. In her discussion of this with Chillingworth, she tells him his obsession with revenge must be stopped in order to save his own soul.
Several days later, Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest, where she removes the scarlet letter from her dress and identifies her husband and his desire for revenge. In this conversation, she convinces Dimmesdale to leave Boston in secret on a ship to Europe where they can start life anew. Renewed by this plan, the minister seems to gain new energy. Pearl, however, refuses to acknowledge either of them until Hester replaces her symbol of shame on her dress.
Returning to town, Dimmesdale loses heart in their plan: He has become a changed man and knows he is dying. Meanwhile, the captain of the ship on which she arranged passage that Roger Chillingworth will also be a passenger informs Hester.
On Election Day, Dimmesdale gives what is declared to be one of his most inspired sermons. But as the procession leaves the church, Dimmesdale stumbles and almost falls. Seeing Hester and Pearl in the crowd watching the parade, he climbs upon the scaffold and confesses his sin, dying in Hester's arms. Later, witnesses swear that they saw a stigmata in the form of a scarlet A upon his chest. Chillingworth, losing his revenge, dies shortly thereafter and leaves pearl a great deal of money, enabling her to go to Europe with her mother and make a wealthy marriage.
Several years later, Hester returns to Boston, resumes wearing the scarlet letter, and becomes a person to whom other women turn for solace. When she dies, she is buried near the grave of Dimmesdale, and they share a simple slate tombstone with the inscription "On a field, sable, the letter A gules."
To Give or Not to Give by Claudio V. Tabotabo, MA (October, 2005)
A student's mind is hardened by idleness. Motivation alone lubricates it. And it is the lubricated mind that is capable of learning.
At home there is no learning environment. There are no books or any forms of reading materials. What is at home is a TV. set where children try to impersonate the stupidity of some personalities. Parents cannot motivate them. The parents are busy and the contact hours between parents and children are too narrow. Gone were the days when parents and children eat together and talk about matters that concern life.
Aware of their in-accessibility to the children, parents sent their kids to school in the hope that the "experts" there can open the minds of the children.
To open the minds of the children is a need and to touch their hearts is itself a teaching the basic reason why a teacher is there in school. This means that if a teacher feels he is incapable of touching the children's heart, then he must pursue another occupation. He must give way for others who can inspire the students to wander the world of wisdom.
A series of seminars tells us always to give what we have. It sounds very ordinary and boring that even the sidewalk vendors are tired of listening to it. But we cannot motivate the students to read if we ourselves are not readers. We cannot simply tell the students to buy and read the books of Dumas, Zola, Steinbeck, and Shakespeare.
Teachers must always be readers. A businessman with the kind of his profession makes no difference if he reads or not. But a teacher who does not read is like a rower who does not row or a carpenter who goes to work without a hammer, his basic tool as carpenter.
A student' brain is dry. The teacher must water it with motivation but let the teacher motivates himself first.
At home there is no learning environment. There are no books or any forms of reading materials. What is at home is a TV. set where children try to impersonate the stupidity of some personalities. Parents cannot motivate them. The parents are busy and the contact hours between parents and children are too narrow. Gone were the days when parents and children eat together and talk about matters that concern life.
Aware of their in-accessibility to the children, parents sent their kids to school in the hope that the "experts" there can open the minds of the children.
To open the minds of the children is a need and to touch their hearts is itself a teaching the basic reason why a teacher is there in school. This means that if a teacher feels he is incapable of touching the children's heart, then he must pursue another occupation. He must give way for others who can inspire the students to wander the world of wisdom.
A series of seminars tells us always to give what we have. It sounds very ordinary and boring that even the sidewalk vendors are tired of listening to it. But we cannot motivate the students to read if we ourselves are not readers. We cannot simply tell the students to buy and read the books of Dumas, Zola, Steinbeck, and Shakespeare.
Teachers must always be readers. A businessman with the kind of his profession makes no difference if he reads or not. But a teacher who does not read is like a rower who does not row or a carpenter who goes to work without a hammer, his basic tool as carpenter.
A student' brain is dry. The teacher must water it with motivation but let the teacher motivates himself first.
Behind by Ronan S. Estoque, MA (October, 2005)
And she was running.
She was running for about ten minutes in the dark when she noticed that she is not moving. Well, she is moving of course but she is not getting somewhere. The terror that made her run seems irrelevant right now, what she does know is that she must run. But run from whom?
With a heavy breathing, she paused for a while. She tried to look back but decided not to. The terror might be there gaining for her so against her better judgment, she decided not to look behind and just to continue running. Run, Sylvia, run.
For as long as Sylvia could remember, she has been running. She has been running for a long time and yet, the unexplained terror is still there lurking somewhere behind her. Just waiting for a chance to pounce her and do what? She asked herself. To eat her, maybe. To suck her blood? To kill her? Sylvia simply just doesn't know. What she is certain with is that she must run and get away from the terror behind her. But what if the terror is within her?
"I will just have to run". By running, the impending gloom might desert me and perhaps I might survive this episode, Sylvia tells herself.
Sylvia is getting tired, her legs won't move anymore. She needs some rest but where can she possibly rest. Then just over the horizon, Sylvia saw a tree of some kind. From the shadows she could tell that it is an old tree and that maybe she could take a rest on its branches. Without any hesitation, Sylvia pushed herself harder and tried to reach the tree before this feeling of doom catches up with her.
Sylvia reached the tree and yet the feeling of something is behind her was still tormenting her. She immediately grabbed the nearest branch and tried to raise her tired body. When Sylvia reached the branch that to her estimation was the most secure; she stopped; and tried to look down. She was almost at the top of the withered tree and she tried to catch her breath.
It was dark but Sylvia knew that if she could just hang on, light would come out and salvation was certain to come. She waited, and waited some more. "At least I am quite certain that there is no one who is pursuing me right now and that somehow, the feeling of terror that is catching up is subsiding".
After an hour (or maybe just a couple of minutes), her lungs are now fully rested. Instead of breathing heavily, she was now breathing normally. Sylvia was impatient about the light. Just when it is going to be light? She wondered.
Sylvia tried to look around and scan her surroundings. There was a tug of war between light and darkness. If you were just waking up, one would be confused whether it was going to be daytime or nighttime.
And then she heard a heavy breathing somewhere on top of her. Somewhere on the branches above her, there was someone or something breathing heavily. As if coming from a strenuous exertion and its lungs was also in need of air.
The silence, aside from the heavy breathing was intolerable. The terror that was catching up with Sylvia when she was running is now on top of the tree. Sylvia was quite certain that what was on top of her was the source of her terror.
All of the sudden, the tree itself shook. She was uncertain whether to stay or to run again, but run where? It was dark but she could now see the horizon, it was nothing but a flat land. If this terror is flying then all is lost. She cannot possibly outrun it. Obviously, it gets tired (as evidenced by its heavy breathing). But the though and uncertainty of running again seems quite useless.
It really doesn't matter. This tree, which is supposed to be her refuge, is now shared by the cause of her terror. The game was afoot, the hunt was over and sadly, this seems to be the end of her long run. The shaking of the tree stopped. The cause of Sylvia's terror is now trying to hop from one branch to another, trying to get down to where she is clinging.
Just what is this thing that is trying to get her?
To be continued...
She was running for about ten minutes in the dark when she noticed that she is not moving. Well, she is moving of course but she is not getting somewhere. The terror that made her run seems irrelevant right now, what she does know is that she must run. But run from whom?
With a heavy breathing, she paused for a while. She tried to look back but decided not to. The terror might be there gaining for her so against her better judgment, she decided not to look behind and just to continue running. Run, Sylvia, run.
For as long as Sylvia could remember, she has been running. She has been running for a long time and yet, the unexplained terror is still there lurking somewhere behind her. Just waiting for a chance to pounce her and do what? She asked herself. To eat her, maybe. To suck her blood? To kill her? Sylvia simply just doesn't know. What she is certain with is that she must run and get away from the terror behind her. But what if the terror is within her?
"I will just have to run". By running, the impending gloom might desert me and perhaps I might survive this episode, Sylvia tells herself.
Sylvia is getting tired, her legs won't move anymore. She needs some rest but where can she possibly rest. Then just over the horizon, Sylvia saw a tree of some kind. From the shadows she could tell that it is an old tree and that maybe she could take a rest on its branches. Without any hesitation, Sylvia pushed herself harder and tried to reach the tree before this feeling of doom catches up with her.
Sylvia reached the tree and yet the feeling of something is behind her was still tormenting her. She immediately grabbed the nearest branch and tried to raise her tired body. When Sylvia reached the branch that to her estimation was the most secure; she stopped; and tried to look down. She was almost at the top of the withered tree and she tried to catch her breath.
It was dark but Sylvia knew that if she could just hang on, light would come out and salvation was certain to come. She waited, and waited some more. "At least I am quite certain that there is no one who is pursuing me right now and that somehow, the feeling of terror that is catching up is subsiding".
After an hour (or maybe just a couple of minutes), her lungs are now fully rested. Instead of breathing heavily, she was now breathing normally. Sylvia was impatient about the light. Just when it is going to be light? She wondered.
Sylvia tried to look around and scan her surroundings. There was a tug of war between light and darkness. If you were just waking up, one would be confused whether it was going to be daytime or nighttime.
And then she heard a heavy breathing somewhere on top of her. Somewhere on the branches above her, there was someone or something breathing heavily. As if coming from a strenuous exertion and its lungs was also in need of air.
The silence, aside from the heavy breathing was intolerable. The terror that was catching up with Sylvia when she was running is now on top of the tree. Sylvia was quite certain that what was on top of her was the source of her terror.
All of the sudden, the tree itself shook. She was uncertain whether to stay or to run again, but run where? It was dark but she could now see the horizon, it was nothing but a flat land. If this terror is flying then all is lost. She cannot possibly outrun it. Obviously, it gets tired (as evidenced by its heavy breathing). But the though and uncertainty of running again seems quite useless.
It really doesn't matter. This tree, which is supposed to be her refuge, is now shared by the cause of her terror. The game was afoot, the hunt was over and sadly, this seems to be the end of her long run. The shaking of the tree stopped. The cause of Sylvia's terror is now trying to hop from one branch to another, trying to get down to where she is clinging.
Just what is this thing that is trying to get her?
To be continued...
HSSD Core Competencies by Marian Jeanette G. Laxa, MA and Lorna V. Wy, MA (October, 2005)
The Humanities and Social Science Department deliberated on its core competencies last October 03, 2005. The suggested competencies are as follows:
Mastery of the Subject Matter- Every Professor should be knowledgeable in all aspects of his/her subject matter. Since this is the heart of education - to impart and share relevant knowledge.
Effective Communications Skills- This is the ability of the Professor to speak fluently and accurately in terms of the correct usage of the English Language as a mandatory medium of teaching.
Process Driven- this pertains to the efficiency of current process; to identify improvement opportunities and to improve the delivery of quality education.
Effective Classroom Management- this pertains to the conformity of the HSSD faculty to the 5 S system and the adherence to the TIP teaching-paraphernalia rule.
This was a collaborative effort done by the HSSD faculty and will be implemented next semester
Mastery of the Subject Matter- Every Professor should be knowledgeable in all aspects of his/her subject matter. Since this is the heart of education - to impart and share relevant knowledge.
Effective Communications Skills- This is the ability of the Professor to speak fluently and accurately in terms of the correct usage of the English Language as a mandatory medium of teaching.
Process Driven- this pertains to the efficiency of current process; to identify improvement opportunities and to improve the delivery of quality education.
Effective Classroom Management- this pertains to the conformity of the HSSD faculty to the 5 S system and the adherence to the TIP teaching-paraphernalia rule.
This was a collaborative effort done by the HSSD faculty and will be implemented next semester
Epic Singers by Claudio V. Tabotabo (November, 2004)
Sometimes they are called minstrels, chanters, singers, troubadours, bards, rhapsodists, lyricists and balladeers. In the world of the Subanun (cultural communities of Zamboanga peninsula) they are called gumananen. It is derived from the Subanun word guman, - Subanun epic. Whatever the title, these are the people who recount the life and deeds of a hero.
This writer had met two epic singers in the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte. The two minstrels sung different epic poems but they had one common lament, the death of the epic.
Filipino tradition is now in the verge of death. Young people in the rural villages are not anymore interested to listen to the song of the minstrel. No one likes to hear the stories from the ancient past. Television, radio and other forms of modernization had replaced the ancient art. Young villagers now look at the tradition of their birth as inferior to those they have seen on T.V. Consequently by all means they try to ignore and hide what is native.
Folklorist Manuel Arsenio had already voiced out the saddening effect of the lost of the traditions. Tradition if completely forgotten makes the Filipino the people without identity. We try to appear westerners when by all means we can not be. Some Filipinos even spend thousands of pesos to improve their appearances and to be looked after their American models. If this is not a demonstration of stupidity, this is exactly an expression of ignorance. And if there are people to be indicted for all of this, it should be those in the advertising companies or the whole TV industry itself. They shattered the mural of the true Filipino selfdom.
It was 1995 when I met the Subanun minstrel in Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte. They were old and very much affected by the fact that none in their village could continue the travel of the epic from the generation in the far away past to the next generation.
The woman-minstrel further grieved that the nightly singing of guman and the celebration of buklug (seven-day festivity) were forcibly became irregular when her barangay was declared No Man's Land. With the other villagers, she had to move and sleep in the congested Elementary school of the barrio. This happened several times. She said, one time she saw an airplane soaring in the sky and when it was gone a column of smoke bellowed from her village. When she came back to the village everything was rumpled. The natural cycle of life in the village is disturbed which is another stampede to the travel of the tradition.
Urbanization is creeping to the pockets of mountains, at the same time, cannons pound the whole island of Mindanao. All this forged into a heat that burns the ancient Asian tradition.
But more terrifying than the pounding of cannons is the passion of some Filipinos to appear like a westerner.
This writer had met two epic singers in the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte. The two minstrels sung different epic poems but they had one common lament, the death of the epic.
Filipino tradition is now in the verge of death. Young people in the rural villages are not anymore interested to listen to the song of the minstrel. No one likes to hear the stories from the ancient past. Television, radio and other forms of modernization had replaced the ancient art. Young villagers now look at the tradition of their birth as inferior to those they have seen on T.V. Consequently by all means they try to ignore and hide what is native.
Folklorist Manuel Arsenio had already voiced out the saddening effect of the lost of the traditions. Tradition if completely forgotten makes the Filipino the people without identity. We try to appear westerners when by all means we can not be. Some Filipinos even spend thousands of pesos to improve their appearances and to be looked after their American models. If this is not a demonstration of stupidity, this is exactly an expression of ignorance. And if there are people to be indicted for all of this, it should be those in the advertising companies or the whole TV industry itself. They shattered the mural of the true Filipino selfdom.
It was 1995 when I met the Subanun minstrel in Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte. They were old and very much affected by the fact that none in their village could continue the travel of the epic from the generation in the far away past to the next generation.
The woman-minstrel further grieved that the nightly singing of guman and the celebration of buklug (seven-day festivity) were forcibly became irregular when her barangay was declared No Man's Land. With the other villagers, she had to move and sleep in the congested Elementary school of the barrio. This happened several times. She said, one time she saw an airplane soaring in the sky and when it was gone a column of smoke bellowed from her village. When she came back to the village everything was rumpled. The natural cycle of life in the village is disturbed which is another stampede to the travel of the tradition.
Urbanization is creeping to the pockets of mountains, at the same time, cannons pound the whole island of Mindanao. All this forged into a heat that burns the ancient Asian tradition.
But more terrifying than the pounding of cannons is the passion of some Filipinos to appear like a westerner.
Managing Life in Classrooms by Rogelio G. Dela Cruz (November, 2004)
All teachers have the concerns regarding the quality of life in classroom settings. All teachers and students want to feel safe and accepted when they are in school. There exists today a reliable, effective knowledge based on classroom management and the prevention of disorder in schools. This knowledge base has been developed from hundreds of studies of teacher/students interaction and student/student interaction which have been conducted in schools in almost every part of the country. We speak of managing life in classrooms because we now know that there are many factors that go into building effective teacher/student and student/student relationships.
The traditional term "discipline" is too narrow and refers primarily to teachers' reactions to undesired student behavior. We can better understand methods of managing student behavior when we look at the totality of what goes on in side the classrooms, with teacher responses to student's behavior as a part of that totality. Teachers have a tremendous responsibility for the emotional climate that is set in a classroom whether students feel secure and safe and whether they want to learn. These depend to in enormous extent on the psychological frame of mind of the teacher. Teachers must be able to manage themselves first in order to manage effectively the development of a humane and caring classroom environment.
Teachers bear moral and ethical responsibility for modeling a responsible social behavior in the classroom. There are many models of observing life in classrooms. Arrangement of the total physical environment of the rooms is a very important part of the teacher's planning for learning activities. Teachers need to expect the best work and behavior that students are capable of achieving. Respect and care are attitudes that a teacher must communicate to be received them in return. Open lines of communication between teachers and students enhance the possibility for congenial, fair dialogical resolution of the problems that would occur.
Developing a high level of task orientation among students and encouraging cooperative learning and shared task achievement will foster camaraderie and self-confidence among students. Shared decision making will build an esprit de corps, a sense of pride and confidence, which would result into a high-quality performance. Good class morale, well managed, never hurts academic achievements. The importance of emphasizing quality, helping students to achieve levels of performance they can feel proud of having attained, and encouraging positive dialogue among them leads them to take ownership in their individual educative efforts. When these happens, they would literally empower themselves to do their best.
When teachers discuss what concerns them about their roles in the classroom, the issue of discipline, how to manage student behavior, will usually rank near or at the top of their lists. A teacher needs a clear understanding of what kind of learning environments are most appropriate for the subject matter and ages of the students. Any person who wants to teach must also want his or her students to learn well, to acquire basic values of respect for others and to become more effective citizens.
There is considerable debate among educators regarding certain approaches used in schools to achieve a form of order in classrooms that also develops respect for self and others. The dialogue about this issue is spirited and informative. The bottom line for any effective and humane approach to discipline in the classroom, the necessary starting point is the teacher's emotional balance and capacity for self-control. This precondition creates a further one -which the teacher wants to be in the classroom with his or her students in the first place. Unmotivated teachers cannot motivate students.
Helping young people learn the skills of self-control and motivation to become productive, contributing, and knowledgeable adult participants in society is one of the most important tasks that good teachers undertake. These are teachable and learnable skills, they do not relate to heredity or social conditions. They can be learned by any human being that wants to learn these and who is cognitively able to learn them. There is a large knowledge based on how teachers can help students learns self-control. All that is required is the willingness of teachers to learn these skills themselves and to teach them to their students. No topic is more fundamentally related to any thorough examination of the social and cultural foundations of education. There are many sound techniques that new teachers can use to achieve success in managing students' classroom behavior, and they should not be afraid to ask colleagues questions and to develop peer support groups with whom they can work with confidence and trust.
The traditional term "discipline" is too narrow and refers primarily to teachers' reactions to undesired student behavior. We can better understand methods of managing student behavior when we look at the totality of what goes on in side the classrooms, with teacher responses to student's behavior as a part of that totality. Teachers have a tremendous responsibility for the emotional climate that is set in a classroom whether students feel secure and safe and whether they want to learn. These depend to in enormous extent on the psychological frame of mind of the teacher. Teachers must be able to manage themselves first in order to manage effectively the development of a humane and caring classroom environment.
Teachers bear moral and ethical responsibility for modeling a responsible social behavior in the classroom. There are many models of observing life in classrooms. Arrangement of the total physical environment of the rooms is a very important part of the teacher's planning for learning activities. Teachers need to expect the best work and behavior that students are capable of achieving. Respect and care are attitudes that a teacher must communicate to be received them in return. Open lines of communication between teachers and students enhance the possibility for congenial, fair dialogical resolution of the problems that would occur.
Developing a high level of task orientation among students and encouraging cooperative learning and shared task achievement will foster camaraderie and self-confidence among students. Shared decision making will build an esprit de corps, a sense of pride and confidence, which would result into a high-quality performance. Good class morale, well managed, never hurts academic achievements. The importance of emphasizing quality, helping students to achieve levels of performance they can feel proud of having attained, and encouraging positive dialogue among them leads them to take ownership in their individual educative efforts. When these happens, they would literally empower themselves to do their best.
When teachers discuss what concerns them about their roles in the classroom, the issue of discipline, how to manage student behavior, will usually rank near or at the top of their lists. A teacher needs a clear understanding of what kind of learning environments are most appropriate for the subject matter and ages of the students. Any person who wants to teach must also want his or her students to learn well, to acquire basic values of respect for others and to become more effective citizens.
There is considerable debate among educators regarding certain approaches used in schools to achieve a form of order in classrooms that also develops respect for self and others. The dialogue about this issue is spirited and informative. The bottom line for any effective and humane approach to discipline in the classroom, the necessary starting point is the teacher's emotional balance and capacity for self-control. This precondition creates a further one -which the teacher wants to be in the classroom with his or her students in the first place. Unmotivated teachers cannot motivate students.
Helping young people learn the skills of self-control and motivation to become productive, contributing, and knowledgeable adult participants in society is one of the most important tasks that good teachers undertake. These are teachable and learnable skills, they do not relate to heredity or social conditions. They can be learned by any human being that wants to learn these and who is cognitively able to learn them. There is a large knowledge based on how teachers can help students learns self-control. All that is required is the willingness of teachers to learn these skills themselves and to teach them to their students. No topic is more fundamentally related to any thorough examination of the social and cultural foundations of education. There are many sound techniques that new teachers can use to achieve success in managing students' classroom behavior, and they should not be afraid to ask colleagues questions and to develop peer support groups with whom they can work with confidence and trust.
Vox Populi by Ronan S. Estoque (November, 2004)
Because of the present White House opposition to the development of the stem cell research, certain strides in the pursuit of the multivariate potentials of that science are put on hold. Of course, stem cell research is likely a potential platform for the science of cloning but the advantages far outweighs the disadvantages.
Senator Kerry placed everything in perspective when he said that the protectionist mode of the White House places it in the absurd position of defending the candle industry against electricity, the wagon against the car industry and the typewriter against the computer industry.
If the line of thinking were to protect the status quo, then there would be no progress. The penicillin would remain undiscovered; the anesthesia would have still been outlawed. To my mind, this is the clear contrast and difference between Senator John Kerry and President Bush. The former is for change while the latter is for the status quo.
Before the making of the policy pronouncement of support for the further development of stem cell research of Senator John Kerry, I was leaning for the status quo (indirectly favoring the re-election of President Bush). But with this policy pronouncement, I am now favoring a change of White House leadership.
The other possible scenario is that with the Kerry Presidency, the blacklisting of the republic would be removed. The republic was blacklisted because we withdrew from the coalition of the willing with the initial threat of beheading (Angelo Dela Cruz) the kidnapped Filipino OFW.
With Senator Kerry at the helm, everything would be placed in the backburner since fundamentally, the senator is against the American military adventure in Iraq.
To while the present White House leadership is presently making us pay for that troop withdrawal, a new Chief Executive would be more lenient and understanding.
Now, the incumbent might spring back for another four years. And the republic would have to bear with his leadership especially the pay back scheme that is now being followed and implemented by his minions.
Overall, the republic would be far better when there is a democrat at the helm of the White House.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia 2003, the Electoral College is the body that elects the President and the Vice President. Article II, Section I of the constitution of the United States provides that each state shall appoint as many presidential electors as the states members of the Congress. The US Constitution further gives the legislature of each state the authority to decide how that state's presidential electors are chosen, and every state has provided that the voters shall directly vote the electors.
Based on the result of the tally of the US Electoral College, President George Bush got an electoral vote of 274 as opposed to the electoral vote of Senator John Kerry of 256. The needed vote for a sure win is 270. President Bush got four more votes.
In the equation of direct popular vote, President George Bush even had a winning margin of 3.5 million votes. As opposed to the scenario of last presidential elections, where Vice President Al Gore defeated George Bush in the popular vote but bowed in the mighty Electoral College (where Governor George Bush was grudgingly declared as the winner). In this particular presidential election however, George Bush was the clear winner in the popular vote and also in the Electoral College.
What should be explicitly voiced in this paper is that though there was a contrast in the political viewpoint between the two contenders (i.e. George Bush who represented the Republican Party is against same sex marriage and a freeze in stem-cell research while John Kerry who represented the Democrats is for same sex marriage and further stem-cell research), the American electorate should firmly stood for moral backbone and for someone who is for traditional family values.
While it is conceded that the American military adventurism in Afghanistan and Iraq bears some shade of shame for the sloppy handling, planning and lack of exit strategy, at the end of the day- the issue of traditional moral values holds the attention of the electorate, which in turn ensured the re-election of the incumbent.
The implication of the republican win means that the status quo will still hold sway and that in the convergence of the planetary geo-politics, the Americans with their display of politics at work, would still pursue the war against worldwide terrorism.
Like I said, business as usual...
Senator Kerry placed everything in perspective when he said that the protectionist mode of the White House places it in the absurd position of defending the candle industry against electricity, the wagon against the car industry and the typewriter against the computer industry.
If the line of thinking were to protect the status quo, then there would be no progress. The penicillin would remain undiscovered; the anesthesia would have still been outlawed. To my mind, this is the clear contrast and difference between Senator John Kerry and President Bush. The former is for change while the latter is for the status quo.
Before the making of the policy pronouncement of support for the further development of stem cell research of Senator John Kerry, I was leaning for the status quo (indirectly favoring the re-election of President Bush). But with this policy pronouncement, I am now favoring a change of White House leadership.
The other possible scenario is that with the Kerry Presidency, the blacklisting of the republic would be removed. The republic was blacklisted because we withdrew from the coalition of the willing with the initial threat of beheading (Angelo Dela Cruz) the kidnapped Filipino OFW.
With Senator Kerry at the helm, everything would be placed in the backburner since fundamentally, the senator is against the American military adventure in Iraq.
To while the present White House leadership is presently making us pay for that troop withdrawal, a new Chief Executive would be more lenient and understanding.
Now, the incumbent might spring back for another four years. And the republic would have to bear with his leadership especially the pay back scheme that is now being followed and implemented by his minions.
Overall, the republic would be far better when there is a democrat at the helm of the White House.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia 2003, the Electoral College is the body that elects the President and the Vice President. Article II, Section I of the constitution of the United States provides that each state shall appoint as many presidential electors as the states members of the Congress. The US Constitution further gives the legislature of each state the authority to decide how that state's presidential electors are chosen, and every state has provided that the voters shall directly vote the electors.
Based on the result of the tally of the US Electoral College, President George Bush got an electoral vote of 274 as opposed to the electoral vote of Senator John Kerry of 256. The needed vote for a sure win is 270. President Bush got four more votes.
In the equation of direct popular vote, President George Bush even had a winning margin of 3.5 million votes. As opposed to the scenario of last presidential elections, where Vice President Al Gore defeated George Bush in the popular vote but bowed in the mighty Electoral College (where Governor George Bush was grudgingly declared as the winner). In this particular presidential election however, George Bush was the clear winner in the popular vote and also in the Electoral College.
What should be explicitly voiced in this paper is that though there was a contrast in the political viewpoint between the two contenders (i.e. George Bush who represented the Republican Party is against same sex marriage and a freeze in stem-cell research while John Kerry who represented the Democrats is for same sex marriage and further stem-cell research), the American electorate should firmly stood for moral backbone and for someone who is for traditional family values.
While it is conceded that the American military adventurism in Afghanistan and Iraq bears some shade of shame for the sloppy handling, planning and lack of exit strategy, at the end of the day- the issue of traditional moral values holds the attention of the electorate, which in turn ensured the re-election of the incumbent.
The implication of the republican win means that the status quo will still hold sway and that in the convergence of the planetary geo-politics, the Americans with their display of politics at work, would still pursue the war against worldwide terrorism.
Like I said, business as usual...
Gawad Kalinga's Vision: A Call for Holostic Cure by Aquilina V. Redo (November, 2004)
People might have seen Gawad Kalinga's ad on TV- a poor boy blessed with a newly-built home, thanking Gawad Kalinga by saying: "Mahalaga pa rin pala ang buhay ko." This creates the impression of Gawad Kalinga helping the poor by providing them more descent houses.
But there is more in Gawad Kalinga, which cannot just be condensed into a 30-second TV ad. It is not just a factory of houses for the poor but more of a catalyst in transforming the country into a restored Philippines. It is more than feeding the hungry, healing the sick, educating the ignorant, and sheltering the homeless. More than that, it is not spoon-feeding the poor with fish but teaching them how to fish.
Some might say that its vision of building 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities within the next 7 years is a radical idea-bold, daring, or even impossible! Amazingly, however, around 230GK sites have emerged all over the country, so fast when it seemed just an illusion when it was envisioned only in 1999 by the Couples for Christ (CFC) National Council.
It is more than a miracle when donations are pouring in not only from " padugo " of the CFC's contributions but also from the government agencies such as the Department of Tourism, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Health, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, Pag-ibig Fund, and the Philippine Sweepstakes and Charity Office; from senators and congressmen; from governors and mayors from the local government units; from NGO's; from foreign embassies; from private corporations; and even from foreign individuals. More so, last 2002; President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo released some P30M from the President's Social Fund to build one thousand houses.
This inspiring reality does not just end with transforming poor communities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao into Gawad Kalinga (GK) Villages with brightly painted GK homes and landscaped gardens.
Moreover, Tony Meloto, GK Executive Director and one of the seven members of the council, says: " The evidence of God's hand is everywhere. We have seen transformation in just few years. And the transformation has not just been in the way the whole communities have been beautified and energized. Hearts have been transformed as well-the hearts of the poor and, more important for us in the community, the heart of those who serve."
That is the beauty of GK's movement. It does not cure poverty of the temporal needs but it also restores the poverty of the heart and soul.
Along with home building, GK offers a holistic program for education, livelihood, health, cleanliness, and value-formation.
Tony adds, " The reason why other organizations have failed in sustaining their own program for the poor is simply-the poor still had no decent home to call their own. Even if we bombard the poor with education, feeding, and livelihood programs, but do not do anything to improve their environment, it will still be difficult for them to get out of the vicious cycle of poverty. The poor have to imbibe the vision of change and be catalyzed into acting by themselves and for themselves. Having a decent shelter, seeing their children being taught for a better future, and being able to earn a living empower the poor and give them the motivation to translate their dream into reality."
" On the other hand, Tony continues, " if we build only homes for them but neglect to provide the basic values of education, cleanliness, self-help, reaching out to others, and self-organization, then the result is still the same. The poor will still fall back into the morass of self-pity and self-destruction."
As such, GK touches the totality of nation restoration. It transforms slums to clean, beautiful communities; violence to peace; sickness to health; liability to asset; despair to hope; mendicancy to self-reliance.
Recently, I myself have been immersed into this revolutionary vision. Funny but I'm standing on a double role, since I'm a CFC member at the same time, the barangay I'm living in was just chosen to be a project site of Gawad Kalinga. I'm both into the service team and among the recipients of GK's blessings.
Last October, series of seminars, medical and dental missions, and election of officers have progressed. Though it has not been easy, it has been a good start. It is very challenging to convince everyone to participate and to build trust and goodwill among the GK members and the recipients. But seeing that each da, more and more hands are joining and cooperating in this commitment, is already a continuing hope.
As newly elected secretary of our soon-to-be GK subdivision ( Kapitbahayan), I am positive that the hope that has been planted and sprung into other communities will also happen to us and to other poor communities throughout the country. Through cooperation, volunteerism, and bayanihan, the inspiration that some has come our way will lead to a chain of nationwide restoration-in body, mind, heart and soul of every Filipino.
Source: Ugnayan, Vol.XIV Nos.2,4,5 and 6
But there is more in Gawad Kalinga, which cannot just be condensed into a 30-second TV ad. It is not just a factory of houses for the poor but more of a catalyst in transforming the country into a restored Philippines. It is more than feeding the hungry, healing the sick, educating the ignorant, and sheltering the homeless. More than that, it is not spoon-feeding the poor with fish but teaching them how to fish.
Some might say that its vision of building 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities within the next 7 years is a radical idea-bold, daring, or even impossible! Amazingly, however, around 230GK sites have emerged all over the country, so fast when it seemed just an illusion when it was envisioned only in 1999 by the Couples for Christ (CFC) National Council.
It is more than a miracle when donations are pouring in not only from " padugo " of the CFC's contributions but also from the government agencies such as the Department of Tourism, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Health, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, Pag-ibig Fund, and the Philippine Sweepstakes and Charity Office; from senators and congressmen; from governors and mayors from the local government units; from NGO's; from foreign embassies; from private corporations; and even from foreign individuals. More so, last 2002; President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo released some P30M from the President's Social Fund to build one thousand houses.
This inspiring reality does not just end with transforming poor communities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao into Gawad Kalinga (GK) Villages with brightly painted GK homes and landscaped gardens.
Moreover, Tony Meloto, GK Executive Director and one of the seven members of the council, says: " The evidence of God's hand is everywhere. We have seen transformation in just few years. And the transformation has not just been in the way the whole communities have been beautified and energized. Hearts have been transformed as well-the hearts of the poor and, more important for us in the community, the heart of those who serve."
That is the beauty of GK's movement. It does not cure poverty of the temporal needs but it also restores the poverty of the heart and soul.
Along with home building, GK offers a holistic program for education, livelihood, health, cleanliness, and value-formation.
Tony adds, " The reason why other organizations have failed in sustaining their own program for the poor is simply-the poor still had no decent home to call their own. Even if we bombard the poor with education, feeding, and livelihood programs, but do not do anything to improve their environment, it will still be difficult for them to get out of the vicious cycle of poverty. The poor have to imbibe the vision of change and be catalyzed into acting by themselves and for themselves. Having a decent shelter, seeing their children being taught for a better future, and being able to earn a living empower the poor and give them the motivation to translate their dream into reality."
" On the other hand, Tony continues, " if we build only homes for them but neglect to provide the basic values of education, cleanliness, self-help, reaching out to others, and self-organization, then the result is still the same. The poor will still fall back into the morass of self-pity and self-destruction."
As such, GK touches the totality of nation restoration. It transforms slums to clean, beautiful communities; violence to peace; sickness to health; liability to asset; despair to hope; mendicancy to self-reliance.
Recently, I myself have been immersed into this revolutionary vision. Funny but I'm standing on a double role, since I'm a CFC member at the same time, the barangay I'm living in was just chosen to be a project site of Gawad Kalinga. I'm both into the service team and among the recipients of GK's blessings.
Last October, series of seminars, medical and dental missions, and election of officers have progressed. Though it has not been easy, it has been a good start. It is very challenging to convince everyone to participate and to build trust and goodwill among the GK members and the recipients. But seeing that each da, more and more hands are joining and cooperating in this commitment, is already a continuing hope.
As newly elected secretary of our soon-to-be GK subdivision ( Kapitbahayan), I am positive that the hope that has been planted and sprung into other communities will also happen to us and to other poor communities throughout the country. Through cooperation, volunteerism, and bayanihan, the inspiration that some has come our way will lead to a chain of nationwide restoration-in body, mind, heart and soul of every Filipino.
Source: Ugnayan, Vol.XIV Nos.2,4,5 and 6
Friday, June 6, 2008
The Stylistic Approach in Teaching Literature by Marichelle G. Dones, MA (January, 2008)
The study of literature is a fascinating activity that offers both teacher and learner manifold and tremendous benefits. For what other activity would enable the reader to enter into a multiplicity of worlds and savor the wonders of encountering, albeit vicariously, a vast variety of people (including magical creatures), cultures, places in reality and beyond; defy the boundaries of time to travel to and fro in the distant past then whiz back to the present at the turn of a page?
The greatest values to be gained from these benefits are the potential for growth in knowledge and wisdom; the acquisition of a keen understanding of human nature and of human relationships; and the freedom of choice to enter into each character’s heart and mind and live his life, his adventures fully during the course of one story, one novel, one poem. Such are the acknowledged values of engaging in the pleasurable study of literature.
To study literature, specifically to be able to teach it effectively, means that one must be familiar with the various methods, approaches, techniques, and strategies commonly utilized in such a serious task. To study literature means to study language for literature and language are inextricably bound together. Language indeed is the blood and meat of literature. Hence, the competent teacher of literature must know the structure of the language of the literary work being studied, be it written in English, Filipino, French, Spanish, etc.
To know a language means to know its sound system (phonology), its meaning system (morphology), and its syntactic system (syntax which deals with the structure of the utterances in the language). The three branches, linked together in the science of linguistics, are great aids in understanding the language of literature. Besides these three, two other very important branches of linguistics are semantics and the most recent addition, stylistics.
On this article I’m proceeding on the assumption that many, if not all, of the teachers of English and particularly of literature have had courses in linguistics and possess some knowledge of semantics and stylistics.
Stylistics, having to do largely with style, is a discipline concerned with the study of language of literature.” It is the study of language as art.” As the study of style, it “seeks to examine the expressive and suggestive devices which have been invented in order to enforce the power and penetration of speech.”
At the outset I suggest that the teacher should first utilize all the traditional methods of explicating a literary work and then attempt to introduce a refreshing new dimension, an innovative way of looking at the style of a specific literary piece from the point of view of stylistics. This activity could well fall under the enrichment activity as an exciting challenge to the more advanced classes in literature.
These conventional approaches which we will refer to as the “extratextual approaches,” include: the thematic approach, the interpretation of characters, the elements of narration, imagery and the poetic (expressive and suggestive) devices. These constitute the major elements inevitably discussed in the analysis of all forms of literary discourse.
I. Thematic Approach
The theme of any literary work is the main idea or message that the author wants to convey. The theme may have psychological, sociological, ethical, or didactic value. It is the skeletal framework or the “peg” from which the whole story hangs. The author comes up with an idea. It obsesses him and he is compelled to express it; to give flesh and all the “trappings”that give it a concrete form; and to embellish it, so0 to speak, so that it will have both internal and external values. These values distinguish it from all other works of literary art.
Thus, language becomes the author’s main linguistic tool-using sound, meaning, and sentence structure. But apart from the linguistic components, the author will have to clothe his story with style. This is how the theme is expanded. Otherwise, there will be no story or poem.
II. Interpretation of Characters
Under this approach there are four types of interpretation open to the teacher’s or the learner’s choice:
Psychologically oriented interpretation-the characters are representatives of certain mental types.
Sociological interpretation-the characters are treated as members of a certain moment of social history.
Metaphysical interpretation-the characters are images of certain human conditions, e.g., aggressors vs. victims, the damned creatures in hell, etc.
Ethical interpretation-the characters are representatives of a certain morality (or immortality).
This is more popularly known as the character analysis approach. Character analysis is an intriguing activity. Teachers often are expected to fall back on their knowledge of psychology in their attempt to help their students to understand the motivations of the characters in the story and how these affects their social behavior and the outcome of the story.
III. The Elements of Narration
Explicating a literary selection by means of formal analysis of the elements of narration involves analyzing the structure of the story, i.e., taking it apart, element by element. What are these formal elements? Most, if not all stories, contain these basic elements: setting, characters, plot. Each of these basic elements can be subjected or further analyzed to give the reader a comprehensive idea of what is meant by “the structure of the story”.
IV. Imagery and Poetic Devices
A. Imagery
Style is the primary focus of this particular approach which deals with imagery and poetic devices. It is defined as “a characteristics manner of expression in prose or verse; how a speaker or writer says whatever he/she says. The style of a work depends on its diction or choice of words, the figurative language used (frequency and types), its rhythmic patterns, the structure of its sentences, and its rhetorical devices and effects.”
Imagery refers to the images abounding in the literary work, created consciously or unconsciously by the writer’s artistry. There are two generally accepted meanings of image: one in the sense of “mental representation; the other in the sense of figure of speech expressing some similarity or analogy.”
A distinction must be made between imagery and analogy. “In imagery, the resemblance has a concrete and sensuous quality. In analogy, some striking or unexpected common element is observed in two seemingly disparate objects or experiences”.
A study of poetic devices, which are the stylistic resources of particular languages and which increase the power and impact of words, leads us to a “wide range of linguistic features which alone covers: emotive overtones or connotations, emphasis, rhythm, symmetry and the evocative elements.
Closely connected with expressiveness is the element of choice, i.e., the writer is free to choose between two or more alternatives or stylistic variants-the use of synonyms or the use of the inverted word order in place of the normal word order in sentence structure. Inversions, when resorted to, “provides for emphasis, delay and suspense, pathos, finality, irony, parody and impressionism.”
Evocative devices are popular sources of comedy and satire. They derive their stylistic effects from being associated with a particular milieu or register of style.
B. Poetic Devices
In poetry the pervasive employment of imagery, particulary the use of the metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech is a given. Without these poetic devices poetry is not possible. Add to these the other conventional features that attach to poetry as a literary genre.
Specifically, these conventional features comprise meter,(in its various forms), the suprasegmental features,(stress,pitch,intonation contours,juncture), rhyme, alliteration, enjambment,(the syntactic running over of the line), and caesura (a syntactic break inside the line, usually near the middle of the line).
It is a wise teacher who will use his sound judgment in choosing the approach and strategy that best suit to the particular literary work being studied. It is also the pragmatic, versatile teacher who will use a combination of the suggested methods, techniques, and strategies to the best advantage so that his/her students will grow along with him/her, expand their knowledge of the world and its diversity of cultures, and share in the enriching experiences found in literature.
The greatest values to be gained from these benefits are the potential for growth in knowledge and wisdom; the acquisition of a keen understanding of human nature and of human relationships; and the freedom of choice to enter into each character’s heart and mind and live his life, his adventures fully during the course of one story, one novel, one poem. Such are the acknowledged values of engaging in the pleasurable study of literature.
To study literature, specifically to be able to teach it effectively, means that one must be familiar with the various methods, approaches, techniques, and strategies commonly utilized in such a serious task. To study literature means to study language for literature and language are inextricably bound together. Language indeed is the blood and meat of literature. Hence, the competent teacher of literature must know the structure of the language of the literary work being studied, be it written in English, Filipino, French, Spanish, etc.
To know a language means to know its sound system (phonology), its meaning system (morphology), and its syntactic system (syntax which deals with the structure of the utterances in the language). The three branches, linked together in the science of linguistics, are great aids in understanding the language of literature. Besides these three, two other very important branches of linguistics are semantics and the most recent addition, stylistics.
On this article I’m proceeding on the assumption that many, if not all, of the teachers of English and particularly of literature have had courses in linguistics and possess some knowledge of semantics and stylistics.
Stylistics, having to do largely with style, is a discipline concerned with the study of language of literature.” It is the study of language as art.” As the study of style, it “seeks to examine the expressive and suggestive devices which have been invented in order to enforce the power and penetration of speech.”
At the outset I suggest that the teacher should first utilize all the traditional methods of explicating a literary work and then attempt to introduce a refreshing new dimension, an innovative way of looking at the style of a specific literary piece from the point of view of stylistics. This activity could well fall under the enrichment activity as an exciting challenge to the more advanced classes in literature.
These conventional approaches which we will refer to as the “extratextual approaches,” include: the thematic approach, the interpretation of characters, the elements of narration, imagery and the poetic (expressive and suggestive) devices. These constitute the major elements inevitably discussed in the analysis of all forms of literary discourse.
I. Thematic Approach
The theme of any literary work is the main idea or message that the author wants to convey. The theme may have psychological, sociological, ethical, or didactic value. It is the skeletal framework or the “peg” from which the whole story hangs. The author comes up with an idea. It obsesses him and he is compelled to express it; to give flesh and all the “trappings”that give it a concrete form; and to embellish it, so0 to speak, so that it will have both internal and external values. These values distinguish it from all other works of literary art.
Thus, language becomes the author’s main linguistic tool-using sound, meaning, and sentence structure. But apart from the linguistic components, the author will have to clothe his story with style. This is how the theme is expanded. Otherwise, there will be no story or poem.
II. Interpretation of Characters
Under this approach there are four types of interpretation open to the teacher’s or the learner’s choice:
Psychologically oriented interpretation-the characters are representatives of certain mental types.
Sociological interpretation-the characters are treated as members of a certain moment of social history.
Metaphysical interpretation-the characters are images of certain human conditions, e.g., aggressors vs. victims, the damned creatures in hell, etc.
Ethical interpretation-the characters are representatives of a certain morality (or immortality).
This is more popularly known as the character analysis approach. Character analysis is an intriguing activity. Teachers often are expected to fall back on their knowledge of psychology in their attempt to help their students to understand the motivations of the characters in the story and how these affects their social behavior and the outcome of the story.
III. The Elements of Narration
Explicating a literary selection by means of formal analysis of the elements of narration involves analyzing the structure of the story, i.e., taking it apart, element by element. What are these formal elements? Most, if not all stories, contain these basic elements: setting, characters, plot. Each of these basic elements can be subjected or further analyzed to give the reader a comprehensive idea of what is meant by “the structure of the story”.
IV. Imagery and Poetic Devices
A. Imagery
Style is the primary focus of this particular approach which deals with imagery and poetic devices. It is defined as “a characteristics manner of expression in prose or verse; how a speaker or writer says whatever he/she says. The style of a work depends on its diction or choice of words, the figurative language used (frequency and types), its rhythmic patterns, the structure of its sentences, and its rhetorical devices and effects.”
Imagery refers to the images abounding in the literary work, created consciously or unconsciously by the writer’s artistry. There are two generally accepted meanings of image: one in the sense of “mental representation; the other in the sense of figure of speech expressing some similarity or analogy.”
A distinction must be made between imagery and analogy. “In imagery, the resemblance has a concrete and sensuous quality. In analogy, some striking or unexpected common element is observed in two seemingly disparate objects or experiences”.
A study of poetic devices, which are the stylistic resources of particular languages and which increase the power and impact of words, leads us to a “wide range of linguistic features which alone covers: emotive overtones or connotations, emphasis, rhythm, symmetry and the evocative elements.
Closely connected with expressiveness is the element of choice, i.e., the writer is free to choose between two or more alternatives or stylistic variants-the use of synonyms or the use of the inverted word order in place of the normal word order in sentence structure. Inversions, when resorted to, “provides for emphasis, delay and suspense, pathos, finality, irony, parody and impressionism.”
Evocative devices are popular sources of comedy and satire. They derive their stylistic effects from being associated with a particular milieu or register of style.
B. Poetic Devices
In poetry the pervasive employment of imagery, particulary the use of the metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech is a given. Without these poetic devices poetry is not possible. Add to these the other conventional features that attach to poetry as a literary genre.
Specifically, these conventional features comprise meter,(in its various forms), the suprasegmental features,(stress,pitch,intonation contours,juncture), rhyme, alliteration, enjambment,(the syntactic running over of the line), and caesura (a syntactic break inside the line, usually near the middle of the line).
It is a wise teacher who will use his sound judgment in choosing the approach and strategy that best suit to the particular literary work being studied. It is also the pragmatic, versatile teacher who will use a combination of the suggested methods, techniques, and strategies to the best advantage so that his/her students will grow along with him/her, expand their knowledge of the world and its diversity of cultures, and share in the enriching experiences found in literature.
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