A Pair of Tickets by Amy Tan Essay -- American Literature

"A Pair of Tickets" by Amy Tan In the story "A Pair of Tickets," by Amy Tan, a woman by the name of Jing-mei struggles with her identity as a Chinese female. Throughout her childhood, she "vigorously denied" (857) that she had any Chinese under her skin. Then her mother dies when Jing-Mei is in her 30's, and only three months after her father receives a letter from her twin daughters, Jing-Mei's half sisters. It is when Jing-mei hears her sisters are alive, that she and her dad take a trip overseas to meet her relatives and finally unites with her sisters. This story focuses on a woman's philosophical struggle to accept her true identity. The protagonist of the story is Jing-mei. She is a flat character who turns out to be dynamic. Throughout her life, she has been very stubborn about accepting her identity. An example of this is when she explains, "I was 15 and had a vigorously denied that I had any Chinese whatsoever under my skin" (857). She shows her dynamic characteristic at the end of the story when she finally does accept her heritage. The main conflict of this story is Jing-mei's struggle between accepting her identity based on her heritage and not on a personal image. There is no real order in which this conflict is clarified, because the climax and resolution come about at the same time. The conflict is internal due to the fact that she cannot accept her true identity. The climax comes when she finally meets her twin sisters and says, "I get beyond the gate, we run toward each other, all three of us embracing, all hesitations and expectations forgotten" (870). It is then that the resolution comes into play and "After all these years, it can finally be let go" (870). It is at that point, when she can finally a... ...Also an important quote is when she says, "But today I realize I've never really known what it means to be Chinese. I am thirty-six years old" (857). Even though she was in her 30's and still had that identity crisis, it was uplifting knowing that all it took for her to resolve that conflict was one meeting with her sisters. The story "A Pair of tickets" examines a woman who has grown up with American influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can see Jing-mei struggles with her identity for over 30 years, but it finally is resolved once she is able to meet her twin sisters that have been missing from her life for over 30 years. Works Cited Tan, Amy. â€Å"A Pair of Tickets.† The Longman Anthology of Short Fiction. Compact Edition. Ed. Dana Gioia and R.S. Gwynn. New York: Longman, 2001.

Terrorism - Using Social Security to Fight Bush’s War :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Using Social Security to Fight Bush’s War I have a rational fear: a fear that the September 11th attack has given the Bush administration a free hand in pursuing a conservative domestic agenda. This has so far been unspeakable in the media. But it must be said, lest it happen for sure. Where is the $40 billion for the war on terror coming from? Not from a rise in taxes and not from sacrifices to be made by the rich. Where then? The only available source I can think of is the Social Security "lockbox," which is now wide open. The conservatives have been trying to raid the Social Security fund for some time, and the Democrats had fought them off until now. Before September 11, the suggestion to take $40 billion from the Social Security "surplus" would have been indefensible. Has it now been done-with every Democratic senator voting for it and all but one of the Democrats in Congress? Think of it: Are your retirement contributions-and mine-are going to fight Bush's "war." No one dares to talk about it that way. It's just $40 billion, as if it came out of nowhere. No one says that $40 billion dollars comes from your retirement contributions. No one talks about increasing taxes. We should at least ask just where the money is coming from. If the money is coming from social security, then Bush has achieved a major goal of his partisan conservative agenda-without fanfare, without notice, and with the support of virtually all Democrats. Calling for war, instead of mere justice, has given the conservatives free rein. I fear it will only be a matter of time before they claim that we need to drill for oil in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge for national security reasons. If that most "pristine" place falls, they will use the national security excuse to drill and mine coal all over the country. The energy program will be pushed through as a matter of "national security." All social programs will be dismissed for lack of funds, which will be diverted to "national security." Cheney has said that this war may never be completed. Newt Gingrich estimates at least four or five years, certainly past the 2004 election. With no definition of victory and no exit strategy, we may be entering a state of perpetual war.

Child And Parent Behavior Observation Essay -- Sociology Child Psychol

Child And Parent Behavior Observation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I am almost always surrounded by the interactions between children and their parents. I hear it at my work, I hear it in restaurants, but most of all I hear it at my house. My mother owns a daycare and every night I hear parents being hit by a barrage of questions. When children are being picked up they always have a couple of questions for their parents. Children are always asking about the meal for the night or whether they can go over to a friend?s house or have some body over. Every night I see 12 different children with twelve different parents and it seems that each parent acts differently then the next.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I thought of observing the children that attend my mothers daycare I decided that I should observe the interactions betwe...

The reigns of Justinian as the emperor of Byzantium during

The reigns of Justinian as the emperor of Byzantium during 527 to 565 BC and Romanus IV in 1068 to 1071 AD were two most important events in Byzantine. The former marked the stability and economic growth of the land and the former was known to start the end of the empire. Byzantine (Istanbul today), which was called as an extension of Roman Empire in eastern part, after it was captured and made it a province. Justinian known as ‘Justinian the Great’ according to Alexander A.Vasiliev â€Å"is the central figure of this entire period† (1954, 132) for invading Italy, pacifying Africa and controlling Persia from invading the land through his faithful and able generals named Belisarius and Mundo (Treadgold, 1997, 207). Romanus IV on the other hand had a strategy that did not work for him. Romanus IV gathered large army in troops enough to defeat the enemy, yet he lost the battle for he lost control of them due to disloyalty of his men.Justinian seldom joined the army, while Romanus was at the center of the battle. Justinian delivered direction and instruction to his trusted men, and Romanus IV if not misunderstood, was left alone by his warriors to seek refuge (Bradbury, 2004, 176). The challenges in the reign of Justinian were the uprising of the people and uncontrollable circumstances that weakened his control – the plagues and earthquakes that befell the land.Romanus IV’s challenges were much severe since he reigned at the time when Byzantine never had any recur but to drive away the Seljuk Turks to contain the territory at the midst of unfaithful generals and warriors. Justinian was just fortunate to have a wife and Belisarius who advised and obeyed his command. Romanus IV had a different case instead because he was caught unprepared despite a well-organized plan he made to win the battle.His greatest challenge was not the number of enemy but the sphere of his influence as a leader to execute commands. Romanus had no lawful men and he was unaware of that; besides, the empire was surrounded by men with greedy ambition. Bibliography Bradbury, J. 2004. The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare. USA: Routledge. Treadgold, W. 1997. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. USA: Stanford University Press. Vasiliev, A. 1954. History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453. USA: University of Wisconsin Press.

The Art Of Beautiful Women

Proposal:I will attempt to display the comparison of the cultures that produce the Barbie doll and the cultures that produce the Venus de Willendorf. While talking about the two cultures, I will describe some interesting but common themes the Paleolithic cultures and the modern culture encounter: what our modern culture has embraced and those things that it has deserted of which the Paleolithic culture in high regards. Meanwhile through my discussions I will show how much of our world views have changed from an era of the Venus de Willendorf to the modern world view of what the ideal woman should look like and how the view of beauty should not be as two-dimensional as the modern culture makes it out to be.Outline:Introductiona.) â€Å"Only the eye beholder can see the art of beautiful women†, this observation can be proven by looking at different cultures throughout the history of our times. The art of beautiful women is much more that what she looks like, it is also what a wo man’s body can withstand as well as what her body can produce. Women’s bodies are only the expression of the women we allow to live inside them. Let that woman be free. Let her shine. And know that the house in which she lives will always be as beautiful as she believes it to be. Previous cultures show’s us what our modern culture tends to ignore. Body:b.) Common ideas between the Paleothic cultures’s view on beauty verses our modern society’s view.I.) A common idea on the views of beauty between the Paleothic culture and our modern society’s view is that both cultures tend to admire a woman’s beauty: each in their own way. c.) A bit of differences between the views of beauty of the Paleothic culture and the modern world.II.) The main difference between the culture of our past and today’s  society is that of size and shape of a woman. In the Paleothic culture, the ideal shape of a women is believed to have been rather a large size woman, she would be considered volumpsous. Although today‘s society dictates that women of this era should be thin, big breasted and well preserved. Conclusion:The main objective that was intended for discussion of this paper was to discuss the different women idols that are famous in today’s era as compared to the Paleothic era. The significance of women has changed with the passage of time along with the roles and responsibilities that were fulfilled by them previously. There is a major difference between the idealizations of art of beautiful of women in the Paleothic culture and the art of beautiful women that is referred to in today’s society.Some of the roles that women share from both era’s were that women were depicted as some sort of sex symbol, and important enough for being child bearing. The role that the Barbie play in today’s society will be researched in order to explore the societal, political implication of idols to identify th e similarities and differences between the earliest known civilization and the culture of today ‘s era.

Chemical and Physical Changes Lab Report

Also, be cautious as to not inhale the chemicals. Because the glassware is glass, they may break and as such must be handled gently. All glassware should be inspected for cracks before starting the lab. Ill. Pre-Lab Questions- 1 . Identify the following as either chemical or physical changes: A. Striking a match- Chemical B. Food Spoiling- Chemical C. Breaking a Glass- Physical D. Mowing the Grass- Physical E. Leaves Decaying- Chemical F. Boiling Water- Physical 2.In your own words, state the Law of Conservation of Mass: The Law of the Conservation of Matter says the matter can be neither created nor destroyed. 3. List he indicators of a chemical change: Chemical change can be illustrated in many forms such as rust, decay, light being produced, heat being given off or cold being given off, and color change. These are simply a few and are not all of them. 4. Identify each as an element, compound, or mixture: A. Alarm- Compound B. Sulfur- Element C. Hydrogen Gas- Element D. Salad- Mixt ure E.Water- Compound F. Sodium Bicarbonate- Compound G. Fruit Punch- Compound H. Sodium Chloride (table salt)- Compound ‘V. Procedure- Experiment 1- Combine a few iron filings along with sulfur powder on an unused piece of paper. Mix the samples well with a scoopful. Examine the mixture with a magnifying glass and record your observation. Next, move the magnet under the mixture and reexamine It with a magnifying glass once again and record the observations. Discard the sample. Experiment 2- Fill a small beaker half way with cold water.Obtain a test tube with warm bath water and add the warm bath water with the cold water in the water and placing it in the trash can and dump the water down the sink. Experiment 3- Place a piece of magnesium in a clean, dry test tube. Next, add 10 drops of MM HCI. Record observations. Carefully touch the bottom of the test tube to check for the change in temperatures. Flush contents down the sink with plenty of water. Experiment 4- Transfer smal l amounts of sodium bicarbonate into a clean, dry test tube.Add 10 drops of MM HCI individually. Touch the bottom of the test tube and record all observations. Wash all the leftovers down the sink. Experiment 5- Mix 10 drops of barium chloride solution in a test tube with sodium sulfate solution. Record all observations in the data table and then pour down the sink. Experiment 6- Mix a small scoop of sodium chloride with 2 ml of water in a test tube. Record all observations and wash down the sink. V. Data and Observations- Experiment # Mass and Observations Chemical or Physical?When the magnet was held under the piece of paper, the iron stood up and followed the magnet physical 2 The warm water became a solid when added to the cold water physical 3 When the MM HCI was added, the liquids began to bubble and heat up, which is exothermic chemical 4 When the MM HCI was added, the liquids began to bubble once again and the liquids lolled, which was endothermic chemical 5 When the barium chloride was added, the color changed and the consistency changed to a more milky consistency physical 6 When the small scoop of sodium chloride was added to the water, nothing could be observed as happening physical VI.Calculations- VI'. Post Lab Questions- 1. In which lab did you observe a precipitate? A precipitate was observed in experiment number 2. 2. In which did you observe energy change? An energy change was observed in experiment number 1 when potential energy changed to mechanical energy. . In which did you observe a color change? A color was observed in experiment was observed in experiment number 5 when it became a milky color. 4. In which did you observe the formation of a gas? Gases of any sort. VIII.Conclusion- The purpose of this lab was to identify what a chemical change and what a physical change is. A chemical change is when bonds are broken and new ones are forced to form. Some indicators are a change are exothermic (heats up), endothermic (cools of, precipitate (solid forms), and color change. In the first experiment when the agent was under the sheet of paper with the iron filings, the iron filings stood up on their end and followed the magnet around, changing from potential energy into mechanical energy.In the second experiment performed, a precipitate formed, a solid was formed out of the warm water when it was added to the cold water. In experiment three, an exothermic change occurred when the magnesium and MM HCI where combined, resulting in bubbling of the two and then the test tube heating up. Then in experiment four, an endothermic change occurred when the sodium carbonate and MM HCI were combined in the test tube and the test tube cooled down.In experiment five, there was a color change when the barium chlorine and sodium sulfate were combined resulting in a new milky color which also now had a milky consistency. In the sixth experiment, as far as I could tell, nothing happened in the sixth experiment. ‘X. Error Analysis- T he only possible error I can see is if my group made an error of some sort of error in experiment number 6 when nothing happened, and it Just seems like something should have happened in the experiment.

Learning Plan Essay

The learning plan described in this paper is to have students debate a topic related to the Civil War. The debate topic is â€Å"Was the Emancipation Proclamation enacted for moral reasons or political reasons?† The main concept of this learning plan is to have students work collaboratively to research facts, and recall and use facts from the Civil War unit to incorporate into their arguments. (It should be noted that the learning plan described in this paper will take several classes to complete, however the learning plan procedures will only address the class where the debate will occur.) It is assumed that debate skills were taught in a previous class. The learning theory certainly incorporates constructivist aspects. They are constructing knowledge rather than absorbing it. This is constructivist approach is illustrated through the collaborative nature of the assignment, as well as through the research that students’ must produce. In terms of the use of technology a nd media; the students will be instructed to research one source of information, from the internet, related to their argument. They must submit a one-page analysis of the information in which they found along with a references page. This must be submitted to the teacher a week before the scheduled debate. The teacher will assess the content of the paper, but the references page will also be important. Teacher must evaluate the kinds of internet sources that the students have used. The credibility of the internet source, and the strength of student’s research will be analyzed by the teacher. The purpose is to assess student’s traditional literacy and critical analytical skills (assessed when evaluating the content), and information literacy/interpretation skills of online material (assessed by reviewing the reference page). Finally, the teacher will hand back papers to the students, and he/she will instruct each group to use at least two of their group members’ papers into their group’s arguments. Media and technology will also be incorporated with the use of social media. The teacher will tell students that their debates will be recorded and submitted to youtube or a private school website (if issues of privacy are raised). Others will be allowed to view the video to evaluate the strength of each team’s arguments. Based on the comments of public viewers, a winner will be chosen (by popular vote). This popular vote will be incorporated as a small percentage into the assessment. This is being done as to allow students to  participate in new media opportunities within an educational context. Learning Plan Context Setting The high needs school will be a High School in the Bay Area, either in San Francisco or Oakland. There will be 25-30 students in an individual classroom.  The lesson will take place the week after the Civil War unit is finished. It is anticipated that the unit will last about two weeks, therefore the debate class will occur during the third week. The actual debate class will take up one class period. The content area is US History/Politics. The grade level is Juniors (11th grade). In sum, the curriculum unit is 11th grade, US History/Politics, Civil War unit. Standards According to California standards for literacy in History/Social Studies in 6-12th grades. A student must be able to demonstrate analysis of primary and secondary sources, and connect these insights to the understanding of the whole text. This ability will be addressed and assessed when students must incorporate information learned from the textbook with information gained from the internet, and use both sources of information, into their debate. The student’s ability to undertake this task will be evaluated by the teacher with the submission of student’s sources, and also during the debate. (http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf.) Also according to California standards, students must be able to evaluate various explanations for events and actions. Learning Objective Students will be able to collaboratively demonstrate their knowledge of Civil War policy, events and information, from the textbook and from online sources, by formulating arguments to be presented within a debate. Learning Theory Applications Constructivism is certainly at play in this lesson plan: The activity allows knowledge to be organized into schemas, concepts, and worldviews. This activity is emphasizing the use of authentic activities by constructing knowledge through interaction with the environments (internet and peers), and applying it to real-life situations (debate). The collaborative component certainly illustrates constuctivism; learners will help each other create conceptual connections. Finally, students are working autonomously with the help of the teacher as facilitator, supporter, and model (Ormrod, 2006). Learning Accommodations: Individualized Education Plan for Special Accomodations: In each team, all students will be assigned a role. For example, â€Å"speaker†, â€Å"writer†, â€Å"time-keeper†. A student’s IEP will be taken into consideration when assigning roles. A student with an IEP, will be assigned a role that best fits their IEP. For example, a student with ADD, may be best suited to be a time-keeper since their attention span is not as focused. They may be anxious to change the pace of the group’s discussions, and therefore they may be eager to keep track of the time. Language Development needs: When assigning the internet-based research; the teacher will give ELL students a website to navigate to, instead of having the students navigate the internet themselves. Teacher will give explicit instructions as to where to look on the website so students do not feel too overwhelmed with the English language. Teacher will ask the students to try to comprehend some of the information, however if this proves too difficult, then the teacher will ask the students to find 15-20 words from the website that the student did not understand. The student will then find the meanings of these words in their own language. They must write at least a paragraph about the Civil War unit incorporating five of the words that they found on the internet. Also,  at least two of these words must be incorporated into the arguments of their team. Gifted and Talented needs: This is a challenging component to consider because a gifted/talented student does not necessarily mean an academic-rigorous student. To really tailor the lesson to address the interests of a gifted/talented student, then the teacher will have to be familiar with the personality of that particular student. However, some situations will be addressed here. First of all, from the research, the lesson itself befits that of a gifted/talented studen t. Competition, which characterizes a debate, usually suits the nature of gifted/talented students. The first situation to consider is a student who is gifted/talented, but not academically rigorous. This student will be given a leadership role within his/her team. He/she may be assigned to organize/manage all the ideas of the students. He/she is the one who will be given the rubric for what the teacher is assessing when observing the team’s discussions and arguments. He/she is the manager, and he/she will be assessed on their ability to keep his/her team on task. In this way, this student isn’t necessarily doing more â€Å"academic† work, but he/she is being challenged in a rather difficult manner. A second situation to consider is to have a gifted/talented student who is academically rigorous. The teacher will give this student a second component to add to his/her research paper. The student must connect textbook material and internet material to the US politics o f today. This is increasing the cognitive process from analyze (which all students must do with their research papers) to evaluate (Anderson and Krathwol, 2001). The student can choose to incorporate this extra component into their team’s arguments. Resource Accommodations: Low tech: There are no computers, projector, or internet access in the classroom. If this is the case, teacher may have to allocate time in different lessons to use school facilities where computers are available. Computers must be used so that the teacher can show students the kinds of websites that are credible, as well as to use sites, like youtube, to show students examples of debates. Computer use is necessary so teacher may have to take time before or after school to meet with students (who are willing) to show them the above-mentioned websites. Mid tech: One computer connected  to a projector is available in the classroom. The teacher can use this computer to show examples of credible websites, as well as to show examples of debates online. High tech: Class is equipped with several computers. Teams can go online themselves to view videos of debates and start research for their paper. In this way, the collaborative nature of the lesson will start even earlier (in the pre-plan ning stage). Content-Based Literacy Skills In terms of text-based literacy; students must incorporate information from their textbook into their arguments Critical thinking, reflective thought, and text-supported thinking will be illustrated when students must draw connections between internet-based information and textbook information while doing their analysis/research paper. This connection will be evaluated when student’s cute their sources within their paper. (This explanation will also illustrate students’ information literacy.) New Media Literacy Skills Performance: This skill is illustrated when students view sample debates on the internet and use this as models of performance in their own debates. Collective Intelligence: This skill is done when students are within their respective teams and they must draw upon their own and others ideas, research, and knowledge to formulate strong arguments. Judgement: This skill is illustrated when students must judge which websites and information are to be included in their research/analysis paper. Networking: Once again, this skill is illustrated when students must search, connect, and analyze information on the internet for the purpose of their research/analysis paper (Jenkins, 2001). Learning Material: Textbook: Learners will need textbook so that they can recall information. Paper, pen: Leaners will need so that they can write down information. Rubric: Both the learner and teacher needs. Learners need it so that they are aware of what’s expected of them while working in teams and formulating their arguments. Teacher needs it so that he/she can refer to it when assessing the team’s progress. Notes: Learners will need them as a reference when formulating arguments. Stopwatch/watch: This will be given to  the student whose job is timekeeper. Video Camera: Used to record the debate Learning Plan Procedures Phase I: Motivation Activity Teacher will show a short clip of a very powerful, interesting debate. Possibly a presidential debate. The clip will only show the most poignant part (according to the teacher) of the debate. Hopefully the clip will be no longer than 5 minutes long. (if there’s no computer available, then teacher must bring in her/his own computer.) In a class of 30 chair/table. There will be 15 chairs/ tables on each side of the room. They will be facing eachother. Learners will enter the classroom and sit down immediately with their team. The teacher will then show the video as soon as the class is seated and quiet. This activity is being done to motivate, encourage, and remind students of what a good debate looks like so that the output of the students’ debates can match skills such as speaking (clear and concise) and eye-contact of the debaters within the video. Phase II: Input (Teacher Driven) Activity: During this class, the teacher will, serve only as facilitator, therefore not much activity will be driven by the teacher. However, after the video, the teacher will remind students of the rubric that was given to them, and tell students that she/he is only their to assist in the logistics of the debate (time, flow, managing emotions if this becomes a problem). The teacher will also instruct students to take notes on each other’s arguments because this assignment will be important for their homework assignment. She/he will also remind student that they will be recorded. Teacher will tell all students to take out their rubrics. She/He will go over some key point from the rubric as it relates to the debate. The teacher will tell students to make sure that they keep these key points in mind because these points will be assessed during the debate. The teacher will instruct students to have their rubrics out for the entire class so they can monitor their team’s progress by themselves. Teacher will formally go over key questions from the rubric that he/she hopes the teams have incorporated into the nature of the debate (clear speech, eye contact,  concise points, respectful behavior) as well as into the content of the debate. In term of the nature of the debate, questions might look like â€Å"Is my team being quiet/respectful as the other team presents their arguments?†, â€Å"Are my responses to the other’s teams arguments not insulting?† etc. In terms of the content of the debate, questions may look like, â€Å"Did my team incorporate facts from the textbook?†, â€Å"Did my team use at least two credible internet sources within the argument?†, â€Å"Did my team follow special instructions assigned by the teacher (e.g. incorporating ideas from IEP students, ELL student, gifted students)?.† This activity and these questions serve to remind students of the importance of the collaborative nature of the learning objective. They also serve to remind students that they must be able to demonstrate their understanding of the Civil War unit, as well as their understanding of outside sources within the context of an argument. Phase III: Output (Learner Driven) Activity Students will take part in a debate. The topic is â€Å"Was the Emancipation Proclamation enacted for moral reasons or political reasons?† This activity will illustrate the learning objective in several ways. First, the collaborative nature of the previous classes will finally be demonstrated. Second, the students must illustrate their knowledge of Civil War policies within their arguments. Third, both sides’ arguments must include information from outside sources. The teacher will select one team to present their arguments first. Recording will begin The speaker of that team will stand up and come to the front of the class. They will present their team’s argument. In the argument they must mention the sources in which they got their information. For example, if they got a particular piece of data from the textbook, then they must state â€Å"As is presented in the textbook†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . If they got a particular piece of data from the internet then they must state, â€Å"As is presented on so-called website, or by so-called author†¦Ã¢â‚¬  They must also explicitly state how they used the â€Å"special instructions† from the teacher. For example, â€Å"(ELL’s student’s name) found that ‘compromise’ was not a possible solution of the Civil War.† In this example, it is assumed that compromise was on a list of words that an ELL student did not understand. He/she presented these list of words to  his/her team. The team reviewed the list, and chose to use the word compromise as part of their argument. The student will finish the presentation of his/her argument. The teacher will tell the next team to present its argument. The team will follow the same procedure as above. The teacher will then stop recording of the debate. This debate will naturally lead to questions, comments from both the teacher and the students. Phase IV: Culmination  The teacher will ask the groups to clear up any misunderstandings or misinformation the teams may have had within their argument. This is to give other team members a chance to speak about the argument, which reinforces the collaborative effort of the lesson. The teacher will also ask students how their team’s or the other team’s information and debate skills differed and how these things were similar to the debate presented in the beginning of the class. As a smaller activity, the teacher will instruct all the students to come up with one question, comment, critique of the other team’s argument. This assignment will illustrate each student’s understanding of the Civil War Unit because it challenges students to relate, connect, or counter-argue their own knowledge of the unit. This question will be submitted to the teacher. Phase V: Exten sion For homework, students will write a one-page analysis of the opposing teams arguments. The student will address the opposing side’s arguments. He/she will evaluate the argument’s weaknesses, strengths; and why he/she disagreed or agreed with the points that were made. Learning Plan Analysis Formative assessments will include analyzing the collaborative efforts of the team, the behavior of each team during the presentation of the opposing team’s arguments, how well each team member took on their role within their team, and how well the team incorporated textbook information, outside information, and ‘†special instructions† from the teacher into their argument. A summative assessment will include the teacher’s evaluation of the internet analysis/research paper, the one-page analysis of opposing team’s argument, teacher’s evaluations of the strength of the arguments, and finally the â€Å"popular vote† (the results of youtube or school-based website). Weaknesses of this lesson plan include time constraints, and the many assessments involved. It may be difficult to accurately assess how well each team members took on their roles. Some students may still be taking on more work than others. Also, incorporating ELL/IEP students proved to be a difficult task.. Strength of the lesson is it fosters team work, analytical skills, and gives students more power in the direction and implementation of a lesson. The teacher will implement these varied assessments in its first year, and then will evaluate the effectiveness of these assessments for future classes. The learning theories applied in the first phase was Vygotzky’s Cognitive Process. Students are witnessing two adults debating and they are expected to try to learn/imitate the behaviors of those adults. In the second phase, social cognitive theory is at play. The teacher both models desired behaviors/outcomes, as well as emphasizes self-efficacy and self-regulation. In the third phase, constructivism is illustrated. The debate is student-driven because the students are demonstrating their constructed knowledge within the debate. The assessments have a behaviorist component. Negative reinforcement (decrease a behavior) is illustrated when the teacher warns students that if they are not respectful or a team member does not contribute meaningfully, then they may be marked down (Ormrod, 2008). References Anderson, L. W. , & Krathwol, D. R. (2001) . A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing, 28-31. California Department of Education. (2013) California Common Core State Standards. http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., and Weigel, M. (2006). â€Å"Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century.† Chicago, IL: MacArthur Foundation. Ormrod, J. E. (2008). Educational Psychology Developing Learners, 8. 25-36. Teachers First. (2014) http://www.teachersfirst.com/gifted_strategies.cfm