Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 68

Summary - Essay Example Being a vegetarian is not all about eliminating a normal part of the human diet. Rather, it is about improving the diet of a person in order to promote better health. Aside from that, vegetarians also manage to contribute towards the betterment of our environment and the advocating of animal rights through the promotion of humane treatment of animals. So maybe it is time that we give more serious thought to the vegetarian way of life. With a growing portion of our society beginning to advocate the vegetarian method of eating, there must be a number of other positive points in support of it. In the introduction to the â€Å"They Say / I Say† : The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, authors Graff and Birkenstein provide templates designed to help the new essay writers in learning how to analyze and respond to the critical elements of the essay they are reacting to. Specifically, Birkenstein and Graff argue that the types of writing templates they offer are designed to give the writer â€Å"a launching pad or sounding board for your own views.† Although some people believe that essays are meant mostly to be argumentative and critical, they fail to see that essays are supposed to instead, offer more information on a specified topic that is meant to either support or negate the claims of the other party. Graff and Birkenstein insist that â€Å"The best academic writing has one underlying feature: It is deeply engaged in some way wit4h other peoples views. † In sum, then, their view is that essays are meant to provide more information and allow readers to make informed decisions for themselves. I disagree. In my view, these types of templates that the writers recommend are like a dummies guide to essay writing. For instance, every essay that we respond to already contains information that we wish to dispel, so why should be add any more negative information to that by making it part

Am I a Constructivist Teacher Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Am I a Constructivist Teacher - Essay Example I also have group activities once a day. Reading to each other, playing math games, and other activities are encouraged. Every lesson also has an open discussion. I allow all students to participate with answers, questions, and even stories. I am at the middle of the constructivist spectrum due to my views on individual teaching. I feel that children can play around or distract when grouped together too often. Interspersing constructivist activities with traditional assignments seem to keep the children focused better. A child does not automatically understand self-control, autonomous behavior, and self-reliance without doing traditional assignments by themselves. On the other hand, after doing a traditional assignment constructivist activities about the traditional assignment are handy. This helps the children do the assignment on their own merits while learning from their and others’ mistakes and successes. My current teaching habits do reflect my constructivist-based views. I like to mix both traditional and constructivist views. Children cannot be programmed like computers. It is essential to use constructivist-based activities to help the child learn. Upon learning a skill a student can then reproduce the skill alone. For example, creative writing is a test given in the 5th grade. All year descriptive writing is examined by the students. Papers are written and shared by the entire 5th grade. Students bounce ideas off of each other in groups and through open discussion, however when taking the writing test the student must perform on their own. This is why I prefer both methods. Discipline is another reason I am in the middle on constructivist views. Some students cannot handle group interaction. Often these children have rough backgrounds. These children need a more traditional approach. This is especially true when speaking about emotionally disturbed (ED) children. Every child is different. If a