Listening Skills :: Communication

CLOSE LISTENING According to scholars in the field of listening, â€Å"Listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or nonverbal messages" (qtd in Thompson, et al. 1994). While we may feel that we are already good listeners, we are also aware that sometimes our attention wanders, we space out completely, or we lose track of a speaker because we begin thinking about our own ideas. By asking you to practice listening, we are not suggesting that you are not a good listener already, but that by thinking about listening -- what qualities make a good listener, the various kinds of listening roles we play, and the personal challenges we have in effective listening – and doing some listening exercises, you’ll maintain the listening skills you have and perhaps develop new ones. Getting Started (Class 1) 1. First, working in groups of 4 or 5, generate a list of 8 qualities that good listeners have. These might include both visible and non-visible items. 2. Next, create a list of 8 things that can get in the way of ones ability to listen fully and effectively. For example, what kind of environments are best for listening? What kinds of emotional states make it harder to listen accurately? 3. Next, think about the different kinds of listening people engage in; what roles do listeners play from day to day? 4. Finally, come together as a class and compile a master list of your group’s findings. The â€Å"What I heard† Exercise (Class 2) Because a big part of engaged listening involves giving feedback to a speaker, sometimes we have to be able to both listen and think simultaneously. While focusing too much on our own thoughts can get in the way of effective listening, making simple connections to explore later can be very useful. In this exercise, you will listen to your classmates describe the main points from their Close-Reading papers (from Assignment One), and follow-up with a segue to your own paper. 1. First, one person says what passage his or her Close Reading is about and either reads all of it or an excerpt aloud. 2. Next, that person tells the class about the main points of his or her Close Reading, using the Close Reading paper as notes. 3. At this point, anyone whose passage is similar (some may even have identical passages) or raises similar issues, enters the conversation with an affirmation that he or she has heard the previous speaker by saying something like, â€Å"What I heard you say is †¦Ã¢â‚¬  followed by the link that the student sees between his or her own paper and the paper of the previous speaker. Listening Skills :: Communication CLOSE LISTENING According to scholars in the field of listening, â€Å"Listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or nonverbal messages" (qtd in Thompson, et al. 1994). While we may feel that we are already good listeners, we are also aware that sometimes our attention wanders, we space out completely, or we lose track of a speaker because we begin thinking about our own ideas. By asking you to practice listening, we are not suggesting that you are not a good listener already, but that by thinking about listening -- what qualities make a good listener, the various kinds of listening roles we play, and the personal challenges we have in effective listening – and doing some listening exercises, you’ll maintain the listening skills you have and perhaps develop new ones. Getting Started (Class 1) 1. First, working in groups of 4 or 5, generate a list of 8 qualities that good listeners have. These might include both visible and non-visible items. 2. Next, create a list of 8 things that can get in the way of ones ability to listen fully and effectively. For example, what kind of environments are best for listening? What kinds of emotional states make it harder to listen accurately? 3. Next, think about the different kinds of listening people engage in; what roles do listeners play from day to day? 4. Finally, come together as a class and compile a master list of your group’s findings. The â€Å"What I heard† Exercise (Class 2) Because a big part of engaged listening involves giving feedback to a speaker, sometimes we have to be able to both listen and think simultaneously. While focusing too much on our own thoughts can get in the way of effective listening, making simple connections to explore later can be very useful. In this exercise, you will listen to your classmates describe the main points from their Close-Reading papers (from Assignment One), and follow-up with a segue to your own paper. 1. First, one person says what passage his or her Close Reading is about and either reads all of it or an excerpt aloud. 2. Next, that person tells the class about the main points of his or her Close Reading, using the Close Reading paper as notes. 3. At this point, anyone whose passage is similar (some may even have identical passages) or raises similar issues, enters the conversation with an affirmation that he or she has heard the previous speaker by saying something like, â€Å"What I heard you say is †¦Ã¢â‚¬  followed by the link that the student sees between his or her own paper and the paper of the previous speaker.

Concentration of Ownership and Decreasing Diversity in Print Media Essa

Concentration of Ownership and Decreasing Diversity in Print Media       For all who love to read books, imagine walking into bookstore after bookstore seeing the same type of books over and over. No variety, no choice, only repetition. Although America prides itself on freedom and democracy more than any nation in the world, this hypothetical situation is becoming increasingly closer to becoming a reality than some may think. Consolidation and concentration of ownership in print media companies may cause for the inability of some people to voice their opinions. What does this mean? This means that the basis of our country, including freedom from the first amendment, maybe be pulled out from under our feet. Causes of this lack of diversity in views and opinions may be linked to the fact that very few but extremely large publishing companies are publishing books and magazines. Conglomerate ownership becoming international will also lead to the lack of American publishing control. Finally, although the Internet supplies an outlet for new opportunit ies and a way of getting diverse information spread throughout the world, not all people are capable of obtaining this information. It was once thought that mass media would reflect very diverse points of view. Now that publishing of books and magazines has reduced to a few large companies, the outlook for diversity is beginning to shrink in size. In 1983, over 50 companies dominated the mass media of the United States. Today, this size has drastically decreased to nine major companies including AOL Time Warner, Disney, Bertelsmann, Viacom, News Corporation, TCI, General Electric, Sony, and Seagram1[1]. By allowing a few large companies to control m... ... Beacon Press 2000, Sixth Edition ed.: xx-xxi. 23 Sept. 2001 . 2[2] "Why Media Mergers Matter." Brill's Content Dec. 1999. 23 Sept. 2001 .       3[3] "The US media: a critical component of the conspiracy against democratic rights-Part 5." Editorial. World Socialist Website 27 Dec. 2000. 24 Sept. 2001 dec2000/med5-d27.shtml>.       4[4] New York Time Square. 23 Sept. 2001 location.asp?ID=New%20York%20Time%20Square>.    5[5] Columbia Journalism Review. 22 Sept. 2001 .    6[6] The Big Picture: Demographics. 21 Sept. 2001 demographics/article/1,1323,5901_768141,00.html>.

Tour de France Drug Abuse Essay -- Substance Abuse Essays

The question of drug use among athletes in what was previously considered by the unknowing public to be a rather pristine sport, cycling, is important in that it will affect all future Tours and will place them and the athletes under scrutiny. To begin with, in Europe until the 1998 scandal occurred, despite a few exceptions, cycling was considered a drug free sport. The 1998 drug scandal tarnished the Tour de France and the reputation and image of other sports. The media response to the scandal took differing positions on what should be done next to clean up cycling. The scandal also affected advertisements, sales, and without question the 1999 Tour and Lance Armstrong. Since even the most naà ¯ve fan no longer trusts the cyclists, drug-testing procedures have been instituted. Also, the question now arises regarding medications used by seriously ill cyclists. Certainly, future Tours will be significantly affected. The Union Cycliste Internationale and other sports officials are left with several burning questions; do they seek a better testing system? Clearly, they must protect athletes and the image of sports even though it is costly. Do they perform uniform versus random drug tests? Both are necessary to keep athletes and trainers accountable. In fact, the 1999 Tour promoted both forms of testing (Fife 208). If they do random tests, how do they enforce them? On this point, committees and sports federations are still debating. For years cycling, a grueling, yet glamorous sport in Europe, has been fighting drug use and abuse. Despite a few exceptions, cycling had the reputation, in Europe and in France, of being a clean, pure sport, compared to others, until the 1998 scandal occurred. The question of drug use among athletes in what was previously considered by the unknowing public to be a rather pristine sport, cycling, is important in that it will affect all future Tours and will place them and the athletes under scrutiny. A Clean Reputation: The History of Drugs in the â€Å"Tour de France† In 1967, Tommy Simpson, a British cyclist, died during the Tour de France because of the amphetamines that he took. Succeeding years brought embarrassments: In 1978, the Belgian Michel Pollentier was suspended while leading the Tour de France after he was caught concealing a clean urine sample to trick testers. Furthermore, in 1988, the Spaniard Pedro Delgado won the T... ...cess Story: Tour de Lance; Armstrong’s miraculous comeback from cancer to a Tour victory is worthy of an exclamation point, not a question mark.† The Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif.; 26 Jul. 1999: 1. Lemonick, Michael D. â€Å"Le Tour des drugs.† Time; New York; Aug 10, 1998: 76. MacAuley, Domhnall. â€Å"Drugs in Sport.† BMJ: British Medical Journal, 313.7051, 7/27/96, 211. Online. EBSCOhost. 16 Nov. 1999. http://www.EBSCOhost.com. Neff, Craig. â€Å"Drug sweep.† Sports Illustrated; New York, 9 Aug. 1999: 71 Pelkey, Charles ed. â€Å"Etxebarria takes Pau; Armstrong answers drug charge.† Velo-News, 21 July 1999. Phillips, Ian. â€Å"Armstrong Extends Tour Lead U.S. Star Bristles at French Media’s Drug Innuendos.† Seattle Post- Intelligencer; Seattle, Wash.; 15 Jul. 1999: E2. Velo-News. The sensational 1998 Tour de France: Conquests and Crisis. Boulder, Colorado: VeloPress, December, 1998. â€Å"Virenque admits to seeking drugs.† Velo-News Interactive. Velo-News; 11 May 1999. â€Å"Virenque released after admission.† Velo-News Interactive. Velo-News, 11 May 1999. Wilson, Stephen. â€Å"Doping Incidents Shake Sports from Swimming to Track & Field.† Seattle Post- Intelligencer, Seattle, Wash.,.1 Aug. 1998: E6.

Creative Thinking and Critical Thinking Essay

Throughout history, people with creative minds have created original ideas which have been useful in the fields of music, art, technology, medicine, and science. Most of these ideas were once branded as impossible and ridiculous, but as of today, their thinkers are considered to as individuals who achieved enormous breakthroughs which helped the world advance (Coon, 2006). Usually, problem-solving is done through mechanical and insightful means which are based on understanding; this kind of problem solving involves either deductive or inductive thinking in order to achieve solutions. Apart from these, problem-solving may also be done logically (based on previous information or rules) or illogically (based on intuition or personal associations and perceptions). However, such is not the way of creative thinking—creative thinking involves all of these different thinking styles, â€Å"plus fluency, flexibility, and originality† (Coon, 2006, p. 360). Fluency can be defined as the number of ideas or suggestions that an individual is able to make for a particular problem. Flexibility, on the other hand can be defined as the number of times an individual shifts from one class or type of possible ideas to another. As for originality, it is pertains to â€Å"how novel or unusual [the] ideas are† (Coon, 2006, p. 360). These can determine an individual’s creativity or his capacity for divergent thinking. Creative thinking or divergent thinking means thinking out of the box and developing possibilities. Usually, people tend to solve problems with tried solutions, but with creative thinking, individuals produce new and different ideas or answers in order to solve problems (Coon, 2006). Creative thinking is often seen in poems, essays, constructed objects, and drawings (Coon, 2006)—however, it can also be seen in everyday life. In fact, creative thinking can come in various forms, one example of creative thinking would be the ever-changing ideas when it comes to the automobile industry. Manufacturers are always developing new features and improving them based on the old ideas, thus, achieving innovation (Harris, 1998). Another example of creative thinking could involve combining two different ideas in order to come up with a new one which is more effective than the separate ideas, like introducing a dinner theater. Since a lot of people usually go on dates by going to dinner, then watching a film, perhaps, it would be creative to fuse these two concepts together to create a much more efficient one where people can eat dinner and attain entertainment at the same time (Harris, 1998). Critical thinking, on the other hand, is an entirely different concept from creative thinking. According to Austin Cline (2010), critical thinking involves developing a form of intellectual and emotional distance between one’s self and one’s ideas in order to be able to evaluate the validity, reasonableness, and truth of such ideas. If an individual engages in critical thinking, he should develop rational and reliable evaluations as to what is rational and logical. This simply means that if one engages in critical thinking, one must value skepticism, and engage in a search for the appropriate solution to problems. Critical thinking also involves open-mindedness, differentiating emotion from reason, arguing with the use of knowledge, being skeptical about probabilities, avoiding linguistic misunderstandings, avoid common fallacies, and most important, avoiding the temptation to jump to conclusions. An example of critical thinking would be carefully assessing situations in order to find the appropriate actions required; a critical thinker, if perhaps stuck in a situation wherein he is faced with numerous tasks at work, plus the obligation to attend his child’s softball game, would carefully evaluate the tasks at hand, produce a schedule by prioritizing and weighing risks and advantages in order to achieve all goals (Jackson, Ignatavivius, Case, ). Another example would be if an individual is part of a jury, and is listening to the witnesses and the defendant’s accounts of a murder; if the individual engages in critical thinking, then it follows that he should not readily believe either accounts just by taking their word for it. Perhaps the lawyer might call a witness which happens to be the child of the murdered person, and if the individual engages in critical thinking, he must not be swayed by the emotions which are shown by those in the stand, and should be critical in analyzing the facts which are presented in the case. Creative and Critical Thinking Using a Common Example Take for example the phrase speed kills; a lot of people have a general idea about this phrase, that which consists of the fact that it is related to motorists, stating that if they over-speed, they could get into an accident and be killed. If one is to use creative thinking in this particular phrase, the result would often involve creating new means to improve the campaign against over-speeding. Creative thinkers are often finding new means to look at things, as well as different means to present such things; therefore, these ideas would then be utilized into the development of a new, effective means to strengthen the campaign against over-speeding. Since creative thinking is all about finding new and different ideas in order to find solutions for different problems,which, in this case, is the supposed problem regarding over-speeding, which, presumably, can kill an individual if he gets in an accident, the creative thinker would perhaps develop innovative means of educating people about this particular statement, such as developing an integration off billboard advertising and traffic warnings. However, if one is to use critical thinking in this phrase, the result would be different. To a critical thinker, it is not possible to just agree with what the phrase implies and just accept it as it is. It is necessary to analyze what it means and analyze as to whether this assumption is valid. A critical thinker would then look into the scientific proof stating that speed, indeed, kills. Apart from this, the critical thinker would look into statistics, and derive from those statistics as to how reliable this particular statement is. While the critical thinker is not aiming to disprove the phrase which states speed kills, what he would be doing involves strengthen it with reliable sources in order to achieve a conclusion that the phrase speed kills is indeed valid and motorists everywhere should heed its implied advice. It is, of course, necessary to state that if the critical thinker does not find the phrase as valid and reliable, the phrase would then be rendered illogical and irrelevant. Summary As seen in the previous discussion, creative and critical thinking differ in many ways. However, while it cannot be denied that both have their differences when it comes to approaching problems, it must be understand that both have their merits and advantages. It is necessary to understand that neither can be considered better when it comes to finding solutions for life’s everyday problems. Instead, an integration of these thinking styles would be far more beneficial, for not all situations call for either creative or critical thinking only. There are those which call for creative thinking, and there are those which call for critical thinking. It is, therefore, necessary to familiarize one’s self with both styles, for being able to adapt one’s thinking style is essential to effective decision-making processes.

What are the most important weaknesses of the environmental optimist position?

The essay provides a fairly sound critique of the environmental optimist position. However, it also has a number of important drawbacks. The article cites global warming as the evidence of inadequacy of environmental optimism. However, there is still a debate going on in scientific circles concerning the causes of global warming. There is no persuasive evidence that global warming is induced by human activity. Therefore, citing global warming as an example of inadequacy of environmental optimism is a risky strategy. The second argument used to refute environmental optimist position is formulated in a confusing way. It is not before the middle of essay that the actual claim is made in a comprehensible manner. The claim itself is disputable: the essay states that in the environmental optimist view, there is a positive correlation between the economy and the environment; however, evidence proves otherwise. The essay supports this statement by showing negative causal relationship between economic development and pollution. However, the article makes a factual mistake by listing China and India as developed countries; in fact, they are developing countries with low environmental standards and high industrial output, therefore they are among largest contributors to pollution. Consumerism is also cited as a problem that is getting amplified rather than solved by industrial development. However, the essay ignores the ongoing shift from material values to post-material values (e. g. solidarity, national self-identification, community, culture etc. ) that is happening in many European countries and catches on in the U. S. This trend might be the turning point in the relations between humankind and environment. Therefore, environmental optimism remains a credible theory.

Analysis of Chocolat

Analysis of Chocolat In this extract from Chocolat by Joanne Harris, a mother and her young daughter, Anouk, have just arrived at Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, a small village in France. The story is told from the mother’s point of view in the first person. Only at the end of the scene – when a man asks â€Å"On holiday, Madame? † – we discover that the narrator is a woman. It is carnival time. The narrator describes the excitement of the participants using the senses. For example, the atmosphere is full of smells of foods which sound really good; â€Å"pancakes and sausages and powdery-sweet waffles† contrast with the cold of the winter.In the same way, the woman appeals to the sense of sight to describe the decorated carts which remind to some fairy tales; for instance, â€Å"a gingerbread house all icing and gilded cardboard† calls to mind Hansel and Gretel. Then, she compares the carnival with others that both she and her daughter have seen. â €Å"A procession of two hundred and fifty of the decorated chars in Paris last Mardi Gras, a hundred and eighty in New York, [†¦] drum majorettes with batons spinning and sparkling† tells us that the carnival itself is something typical of their lives.In this case, it can represent the new beginning in the new town. It also means that they have travelled a lot. Moreover, when Anouk asks her mother â€Å"Are we staying? † we understand that the child likes so much the new village that she wants to stay there. In contrast with the carts of the carnival, which are colourful and expressive, the houses of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes â€Å"leaning secretively together†. Only people have secrets, not the houses, so the author uses a metaphor to suggest something sinister about the place and probably to stimulate the interest of the readers.The small village looks apparently perfect. â€Å"There is no police station at Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, therefore no crime† means that people think that there are no crimes, but this does not convince the woman. â€Å"But for now everything is blurred†. There is also a strong presence of the church and of the religion in general. For example, the church is described as â€Å"aggressively whitewashed†; similarly, the priest is seen as â€Å"a black figure† who is compared to the Plague Doctor.The priest is also described with a â€Å"rigid stance† and â€Å"pale eyes† which confirms the idea of an unfriendly person. All the other residents are characterized in two different ways. On the one hand, there are the adults, who look suspiciously and with curiosity to the two protagonists. As the text says, â€Å"tourists are a rarity†. The sentence â€Å"I feel their eyes upon us† emphasizes the fact that the woman and her daughter are observed. On the other hand, the children transmit colour and vitality.For instance, the clothing of the adults are â€Å"brown, black or grey†; the children, instead, â€Å"flying colours of red and lime-green and yellow, seem like a different race†. The author uses a lot of adjectives, which add many details to the descriptions. For example, when the woman talks about her daughter, she says â€Å"her eyes, which are the blue-green of the Earth seen from a great height, shining†. This also helps us to understand the close relationship between the two characters.

Advertising and Imagery: Big Mac Attack! Essay

The health dangers represented by excessive consumption of fast food such as that marketed by McDonald’s, though gaining increased recognition today, remain largely unknown or unacknowledged by a great many sectors of the American pubic. This is the premise which motivated the image pictured in Adbusters and subjected to discussion here. Entitled â€Å"Big Mac Attack,† the advertisement parody featured here uses dark humor rather than dry statistical information in order to drive home the point to fast food lovers and the general public that fast food leads to high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease. The ad’s subject is a surgery room, which does not in any direct way seem to address the images associated with fast food. With an EKG monitor occupying the left hand foreground, the right-bound background shows a doctor and an assistant poring over an unseen heart patient. From the perspective of the viewer, the patient’s feet are visible, poking morbidly from the blanket covering the otherwise obscured body. The sharp right angle of the EKG monitor cuts in diagonally from off-screen, with the whole of the machine not totally visible. The bottom horizontal line forming the right angle serves to underline the lone print featured on the screen. The phrase ‘Big Mac Attack! ’ is featured here, as though a part of the EKG display. On the lower register of the vertical line in the right angle, a perpindicular line indicates the front edge of the thin bed frame. With almost perfect symmetry, the patient’s visible feet are angled outward and centered in this portion of the image. The two surgeons flanking him complete this symmetrical impression. Other shapes maintain the rigid consistency of the image, such as the chart dangling from the bed and the operating lamp hanging just above the patient. The lone point of distinction from this rigid angular orientation is in the distinguishing statement of value. This is the image of the so-called â€Å"Golden Arches,† which have been superimposed into the heart monitor read-out shown on the EGK machine. Here, the familiarity of the McDonald’s logo serves against the company’s image-management. Without depicting any of the themes such as fun, family and deliciousness that help it to sell its brand name, the ad invokes McDonald’s by using its household logo. This is sufficient to help clarify the purpose of the set of displayed images. Additionally, the farcical tone of the work becomes more apparent here. The faded and morose quality of the imagery here is interrupted only by the swooping image and its attendant colors. Indeed, the chromatic contrast here intended also plays a significant part in devising the impression to be drawn from the work. Specifically, the bleak blue, white and gray which haze over the patient and his physicians, sharply supplemented by the midnight blue and black hues of the EKG monitor, drive home a sense of impending doom. In the midst of this, the red and yellow elements of the ‘Golden Arches’ allow this part of the image to draw the focus of attention. This underscores the value of the work, which is driven by both its criticism of the product in question and its exploitation of the success which McDonald’s has enjoyed as a tremendously marketed brand icon. The composition is thusly conveyed, presenting the rather explicit statement that fast food can be deadly. Moreover, we are lead by the medium and approach to suggest that the authors of the ad parody also believe that McDonald’s advertising supremacy has been a direct contributing factor to the public health hazard represented by the public. This is, if nothing else, a small attempt recontextualize the brand image to meet public health rather than retail aims.