Compare And Contrast The Buttercream Gangs And Unsung Heroes

Unsung Heroes If there’s something I am good at, it is being lazy and letting my favorite movies roll all day. I am not very good at picking â€Å"good† movies. Most of the films that catch my eye seem to be low budget with poor quality or I don’t give them a chance to intrigue me. When I do finally decide to go beyond the first ten or so minutes, I usually end up so absorbed that I lose track of time and all the obligations I have that day. The movie that comes in at about a four on my favorite movie list is, â€Å"The Sandlot†. Another movie I enjoy but not very publicized is, â€Å"The Buttercream Gang.† After getting down to the nitty gritty, it really amazes me just how similar these two movies really are! Both movies follow the plot triangle very†¦show more content†¦When he went to run away, the Beast follows closely behind and chases the boys. The Buttercream Gang reached the climax when Pete came back home from Chicago and was a ch anged person. He got himself caught up in theft, bullying, and other unlawful nonsense within the town. The rest of the gang tried to mend bridges with him but he did not want anything to do with the boys or the good that they were trying to do. The falling action begins when Benny jumps back over the fence and the fence falls on top of the Beast. Scotty feels bad for the dog and pleads for Benny to help free him. The Beast has a change in behavior and shows the boys all the baseballs that he has accumulated from flying over the fence. The boys of the â€Å"Buttercreamers† decide that they are going to kill Pete with kindness. No matter how rude he was to the boys, they would not stoop to his level. They would simply just â€Å"turn the other cheek.† Finally reaching the resolution, the Sandlot crew grew up and all moved away. Scotty became a baseball broadcaster and the courageous Benny went on to be Benny â€Å"The Jet† Rodriguez and stole home as a Los Angele s Dodger. After hoaxing a kidnapping at his grandfather’s home for money, Pete moved back to Chicago. The folks back home were shocked to see he set up his own low key â€Å"Buttercream gang†. Scotty and Benny both really develop as protagonists. They are dynamic characters who change over time. They went through

The Common Core State Standards - 881 Words

In 2009, states around the country began adopting the Common Core State Standards. These standards were put in place to ensure that each child was on the same academic level by high school graduation. As the global marketplace becomes increasingly more competitive, the United States hopes that Common Core will enable the coming generations to be better prepared. As of right now, my working thesis is Common Core is overall unsuccessful in its effort, and discontinuing or, at the least, replacing it would improve the testing scores /academic progresses, mental health, and attitude towards school of the children in the United States. My two articles, â€Å"Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys (Yet!): Motivating boys in the age of the Common Core,† by Jeffrey D. Wilhelm and Michael W. Smith (2014), and â€Å"Why Massachusetts Gave Up on Common Core,† by Mary Clare Reim (2015), both provide evidence on Common Core to support my thesis. The first article, â€Å"Reading Don ’t Fix No Chevys (Yet!): Motivating boys in the age of the Common Core,† discusses Common Core in relation to young boys’ interest in reading. The authors’ main idea is that boys will become even more uninterested in reading due to the kind of instruction they will be receiving through Common Core. Wilhelm and Smith (2014) introduce their article by stating that boys underperform in literacy compared to girls. â€Å"The most recent example of this underperformance,† states Wilhelm and Smith (2014), â€Å"is the latest [NationalShow MoreRelatedThe Common Core State Standards764 Words   |  4 PagesThe Common Core State Standards are a state attempt to create strong educational standards. The standard are created to ensure that students in the country are learning and grasping the information that are given in the classrooms for them to succeed academically. The Common Core plan included governors and education commissioners form forty-eight sta tes and the District of Columbia. They wanted to make sure the standards are relevant, logical and sequential. For content all subjects must have critical-thinkingRead MoreThe Common Core State Standards 1791 Words   |  7 Pagesnew Common Core State Standards for Mathematics bring a new opportunity to the classrooms of the United States that many people view as a controversial. According to the NCTM (2013) â€Å"The Common Core State Standards offer a foundation for the development of more rigorous, focused, and coherent mathematics curricula, instruction, and assessments that promote conceptual understanding and reasoning as well as skill fluency† (par. 1). While some people believe that the Common Core State Standards mayRead MoreThe Common Core State Standard1492 Words   |  6 PagesWhen looking over the Loveless article, the paper seemed to have a very negative view of the Common Core State Standard. The part that was most interesting to me throughout the reading w as when Loveless referred to the furthering of teacher development with the Common Core Standard. The article was very persuasive for someone who had not known a great deal about the Common Core and led me to believe that it was not a helpful tool to the teaching community. Nonetheless, once I did some deeper researchRead MoreThe Common Core State Standards1733 Words   |  7 PagesCommon Core, these two words have come to mean more, in the past four years, than two words with no similarities. 43 out of 50 states are signed on to the Common Core State Standards as of now (Khadaroo). This paper will review the good, the bad and the alternatives to the Common Core, from the eyes of a student that is affected by these standards everyday. Through researching this topic, it has become apparent that the common core has good intentions, however bad implementations. Forty PercentRead MoreThe Common Core State Standards Essay1433 Words   |  6 Pagesyour life? The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) not only standardizes education, but it makes comprehension and intricate tool of the learning process. When it comes to American public education, the diagnosis has been offered that our schools suffer from a lack of consistent standards from coast to coast about what our kids should leave school knowing. The fix that has been adopted in a number of states in the last few years is a set of standards called the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), whichRead MoreCommon Core State Standards760 Words   |  3 PagesCommon Core State Standards, or Common Core for short, has been making headlines in 2014. Not a curriculum, Common Core is a set of standards defining the skills in which students from kindergarten through 12th grade need to have each year in order to be prepared for the next grade. Creating these national academic standards was a state-led i nitiative that included a coalition of educators and governors. Administrators, educators and parents participated in the developement of the actual standardsRead MoreThe Common Core State Standards Essay1271 Words   |  6 Pages2009 the Common Core State Standards, or CCSS, was initiated, and since then has become a large part of education today. News shows in multiple states have shown students protesting these new standards by skipping classes and school all together. These actions obviously show their refusal to work with the new standards. While there are many teachers who are happy with these standards, students still need to be convinced, and teachers can help this by supporting Common Core State Standards. This inRead MoreThe Common Core State Standards937 Words   |  4 Pages Forty-two states, along with the District of Columbia have adopted Common Core State Standards. These standards were created to focus only on English and Mathematics. An effect of states adopting Common Core State Standards is that all other subjects taught in school were emphasized less. History, Science, and many other subjects are no longer stressed; therefore students are limited to being proficient in only two subjects. The Common Core deprives students’ ability to be skilled in multiple areasRead MoreThe Common Core State Standards1298 Words   |  6 Pagesterms of core subject content, as well as though social activity and elective/activity courses. However, there has often been a disconnect between different states and districts over what exactly should be in the curriculum for various grades and what is needed to prepare students for life beyond school, as well as providing little basis for comparing the US to other countries. That’s where Common Core State St andards (CCSS) come in. According to Teaching in the Middle School (2012), the Common CoreRead MoreThe Common Core State Standards1282 Words   |  6 PagesThe Common Core State Standards (CCSS) initiative is a plan to restructure the educational system in the United States and provide students with a high-quality education. Many states have adopted and are implementing these standards. In our fast changing world, different skills are needed to do the jobs our society has to offer. Upon completion of high school, these students need to be equipped to either enter the workforce prepared to meet the demands of their employers or to enter college prepared

Business Plan For The Medium Sized Company - Myassignmethelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Business Plan For The Medium Sized Company? Answer: Introduction A structured business plan creates the significant value of the business products or services. Having a vision for the future business determines the long term sustainability in the competitive business ground (McKeever 2016). The act of planning helps business to think concepts or things thoroughly. JAXON is a company which deals in construction it is necessary for the company to have the business plan for growing more in same field. JAXON is a company which operates its business small and large scale construction, repair and alteration projects. There are 200 employees who are working in JAXON Company. Objectives of the Company The Company focuses on fulfilling the following objectives To establish the competitive industrial business with the high quality construction services in next 5 years To enhance the profit by 16% per year with minimum of 5% net profit To negotiate almost 80% of the total contracts for the upcoming 5 years The company is looking forward to build up the team that is much accountable, systemied, and more organized. Safety program for coming next year of JAXON should be excellent and along with that the equipment would be well maintained and high profitable (axon Construction Inc. 2017). In case if company has to transfer from one place to another, company will take help of its fund and with the help of advertisement it would be easy for it to make aware those people who are connected with its project. Executive Summary JAXON is the company which provides services to build residential area and large scale of accommodation projects. JAXON construction has two divisions that are commercial and residential (Goulding et al. 2015). The main focuses of commercial projects are hospitality, agriculture, retirement, retails and education. The main focus of residential area is low price apartments and grouped dwellings. It has a history of constructing not only for commercial building but also for government buildings that reaches back to the 60s. The biggest concern within the JAXON construction industry is the health and safety of its employees. JAXON offers comprehensive services to finish the projects efficiently. These services include design work, remodeling, site preparation, design management construction, sales and leasing, marketing and asset management. The local commercial construction is considered as the booming at the moment (Fulford and Standing, 2014). In order to achieve the secured place in this environment, JAXON need to concentrate on some things that is secure at least four largest commercial contract over the next two years. Construction Company can enhance the marketing expenditure by 10%. In its current form, JAXON group is operating it business in three sections that is JAXON Construction, JAXON Civil and JAXON Property that operates in number of areas such as commercial, residential and the sector of property. It is the aim of the JAXON group to enhance the number of clients by providing excellent services (Gao and Low 2014). It can be done to provide innovation building solutions by keeping value of money. This business plan will be helpful to layout our values and aims to make this transition successful and build efficient market share to sustain in this highly competitive market. Company Structure JAXON Group has been maintaining the lean management structure. The company has reduced bureaucracy for making the easier for the workers to communicate with the decisions makers. The permanent workforce includes about 60 professionals, clerical staffs, technical staffs, and construction staffs (Builderswa.com.au 2017). The decision maker or the project manager is the head for a particular construction project. The management structure is shown below. Diagram 1: Lean Management Structure of JAXON Group (Source: Builderswa.com.au 2017) The associated staffs will be reported to the project managers directly. The regional office or the head office stands in the top position of the hierarchy level. The project manager or the decision maker maintain the instruction and accordingly structure the project. The instruction is further provided to the associated staffs who are involved in the construction process. The systematic planning and scheduling of the process is determined by the project manager. Finally, the work performance of the construction staffs would be monitored. The performance result would clarify whether it is necessary to make any improvements in the project work. JAXON is a company which provides efficient services by delivering solidity built and high quality structure for all purpose of uses. In starting year JAXON started work on commercial tender work. At the same time JAXON put focus of to make position in housing construction and got success to build 8 to 10 houses weekly in the area of metro. In 1968 JAXON set up an office at PortHedland. In 2005 JAXON acquired by Doric and all the commercial projects got separated from JAXON but in 2011 JAXON separated from Doric group (Jaxon Construction Inc, 2017). SWOT Analysis of the Company Strength JAXON has financial stability because it operates its business not only in one section; it has three sections in which it is working. These are construction, civil and property division. JAXON is not working only for commercial purpose but also for residential purpose (Santos and Laczniak 2015). The main strength of JAXON Company is safety, unity, excellence and respect. The main aim of this company is to make satisfy their customer by providing effective services. These services are durability, safety and lightning, beauty, load carrying capacity and parking garages. JAXON has many clients which give it great deals to construct new houses, schools, residential area and many more. Recent clients of JAXON are Frasers property group, Woodside, Public transport authority, Downer Mouchel, University of Western Australia, Access Housing and Minderoo (McKeever, 2016). The term of the company is related with private, government and range of industry sector. With the help of its strength, it can become easy to company to grow easily in same field because the reputation of the company in same filed is exist since 1968 which is great deal. It is the company which know that how to take competitive advantages. Company has been expanded itself for instance it offers civil construction services for infrastructure projects (Ball, 2014). JAXON Property provides a comprehensive integrated service that is tailored to the needs of each individual client or joint venture partner. Chart 1: share of new property sales of Australia Source: (Fulker, Timur, Dew, and Butler, 2016). Weakness It has been observed that f one construction company do business in same construction for a long time that leaves it vulnerable to a slowdown (Gao and Low, 2014). As it deals with high range of products, high cost structure is the weakness of the JAXON company. However, JAXON is using modern machinery to construct building but the uncoordinated workers are the other reason of its weakness. It deals with high range of products. It is required to provide high level of safety to workers but it has been observed that the safety procedures towards its workers are less comparison of other things (Santos, N. and Laczniak, 2015). Opportunities JAXON is a positioned company and well established. It would be opportunity for it to expand its business in all over the world. JAXON is not only working with government sector but also perform its task with highly repudiated private sector. In initiate way, company can shake its hand with well player of Construction Company and after winning their trust on its project; JAXON can contract directly to clients. JAXON can enhance the number of employees for initiating new projects. Apart from that reliable investor and favorable contract terms can be the opportunity for JAXON Company. Threats There can be so many factors which may influence the JAXON construction company in the form of threats. It can be government policy, high level of ground water and natural disaster. These are the forms of threats which JAXON has to face in the progress of the company in the area in which company setup has strong influence. Apart from that there can be other things which can take the fro of threats, it is difference in technical standards and lack of efficient engineer and contractor. Components of the Company The analysis of the components signifies the efficiency level of the organisation to remain competitive in this changing business scenario. The following components are needed to be taken into consideration. Use of the Opportunities JAXON can use above opportunities by setting target market. JAXON Company is known to deal with small as well as medium scale project. Company can expand its nature and scope through designing services specifically. These specific designs should be targeted families, organization, land owners, education campus and businessman as well as businesswoman. It will increase the interest of investor not only within the country but also in all over the world (Fulker et al. 2016). New projects with new technology, culture and structure will enhance the interest of investor to invest. To grab the opportunities, it is necessary for the organization to focus on competitive advantage. Sales and marketing strategy has been implemented by JAXON Company to achieve the aim and objectives, it provide the session of training which will be facilitated to them to know the objectives and norms of company in depth. JAXON Company can adopt number of strategies of sales and marketing including promptness in bidding process and leverage on the internet. Changes to Make JAXON is a Western Australian leading construction company throughout the state over 50 years. The main focus of company is to deliver best quality services to its every component such as residential projects and commercial buildings consisting education field, health centre, retail and office throughout the state (Bajari, Houghton and Tadeli 2014,). JAXON is not constructing house, it is building communities. Offering the high quality products and services is the major strategy to attract more customers. Therefore, it has been observed that the company has been utilizing the opportunities for sustaining the competitive position. Providing the effective training and development session to the construction staffs and making them aware of the workplace safety aspects would reduce the risks of the accidental hazards at the construction sites (Fulford and Standing 2014). On the other hand, undertaking the systematic work functionalities and continuous improvement would be beneficial for accomplishing the project works. In such cases, few changes are needed to be adopted in the management structure. Appointing the performance monitoring team would be much appreciable to identify the potential risks in the business. The maintenance of the team coordination and efficient organisational culture would be much beneficial for improving the project works. Technology The development of the technologies is another key to success in this competitive business market. It has been observed that the people associated with the works at the construction area have been facing the accidental hazards (Ball 2014). The technological development helps in reducing the manual efforts and decreasing the risk of accidents. However, the associated staffs need to gather adequate knowledge about the use of these technologies. It would be much beneficial for them to work without hindrance. Moreover, the technological development helps in increasing the quality of the services as well. The high quality construction works would attract more customers that would count in the profitability parameter of the company. The company would be able to earn more money by drawing attention of more people. Conclusion It has been concluded that business plan is necessary for implementing strategy. It consumes time but the result of business plan will show the path of working systematically. In this business plan JAXON Company has been taken which is working in this field for many years. JAXON has strength and weaknesses as well but it is possible to reduce the effect of weakness with the help of strength. JAXON has mainly three components that is construction, civil and property. JAXON will maintain this construction component by following sales and marketing strategy. References Bajari, P., Houghton, S. and Tadelis, S., 2014, Bidding for incomplete contracts: An empirical analysis of adaptation costs, The American economic review, 104(4), pp.1288-1319. Ball, M., 2014, Rebuilding Construction (Routledge Revivals): Economic Change in the British Construction Industry, Routledge. Builderswa.com.au, 2017a.JAXON Pty Ltd - South Perth Builders WA. [online] Builderswa.com.au. Available at: https://www.builderswa.com.au/builder/jaxon-pty-ltd/590 [Accessed 13 Aug. 2017]. Fulford, R. and Standing, C., 2014, Construction industry productivity and the potential for collaborative practice, International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), pp.315-326. Fulker, D., Timur, A., Dew, K. and Butler, J., 2016, A Case Study of the Grey Oaks Community and Club: Creation of a High-Performance Culture Through the Innovative Use of a Data-Driven Business Pla, International Journal of Hospitality Tourism Administration, 17(1), pp.72-99. Gao, S. and Low, S.P., 2014, The Last Planner System in China's construction industryA SWOT analysis on implementation, International Journal of Project Management,32(7), pp.1260-1272. Goulding, J.S., Pour Rahimian, F., Arif, M. and Sharp, M.D., 2015, New offsite production and business models in construction: priorities for the future research agenda, Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 11(3), pp.163-184. Jaxon Construction Inc. 2017, Jaxon Construction Inc, retrieved on 9th August 2017 from : https://www.jaxonconstruction.com/index.php/management. McKeever, M., 2016, How to write a business plan, Nolo. Santos, N. and Laczniak, G., 2015, Marketing to the poor: A SWOT analysis of the Market Construction Model for engaging impoverished market segments, Social Business, 5(2).

Western Civilization III Discussi Essays - Conn, Aggregat

Western Civilization III Discussion Section Fall 2013 016: 003: A11 and A12 University of Iowa Lecture: Penny Instructor: Conn Email: [emailprotected] [discussion] Email: [emailprotected] [lecture] Website: icon.uiowa.edu Office hours: TBD Office: 167 Schaeffer Hall Course Description: This course meets General Education Requirements for students without prior instruction in modern European history. It offers an overview of major trends in Europe since the mid-eighteenth century, focusing on social, political, cultural, and economic changes. Primarily we will discuss how a continent inhabited largely by peasants, artisans, and aristocrats became the democratic, post-industrial, technocratic world we know today. As we figure out how and why this happened, we will also examine how the history of modern Europe, and the "West" more broadly, is also a story of who gets to tell us about the past and how these voices have helped to carve out the present. Thus, our objective will be to understand history not only as a story of what happened but as an argument. This course is designed to help you think analytically about the past and present, to develop skills to identify and evaluate problems, and to move beyond simply repeating answers. In so doing, our discu ssions will foster your critical thinking with three important questions: how? why ? so what? Evaluation: Assignment Due Date Percentage of Final Grade First Essay 18/19? September 20% Midterm Exam 3 October 15 % Second Essay 6/7 November 20 % Discussion ongoing 20 % Final Exam Finals Week: TBD 25 % Course Policies: See Prof. Penny's syllabus. Required Reading: See Prof. Penny's Syllabus or his course ICON site. *There is also additional required reading on the main course ICON website. Reading Schedule: We will follow Prof. Penny's main course syllabus. Thus, we will discuss the 3 September lecture and reading assignments on 4 September ; the 5 September lecture and reading assignments on 9 September, etc. Any changes to this schedule will be posted to ICON. Reading Requirement: You are expected to have completed the assigned reading prior to attending discussion section. As by definition, a discussion section is primarily a conversation based on shared readings (and lecture), attendance without preparation is basically pointless. Your TA's take on course assignments (he grades all of your coursework). Exams : . In past semesters these have consisted of short answer questions (aka IDs) and longer essays that require students to synthesize material presented in class and draw on assigned readings in support of an argument. One week prior to each exam we will devote an entire class session to review. Regular participation in discussion section will facilitate success on exams. Essays: In order to help students develop their academic writing and critical thinking skills, they will submit two 4-5 page essays on topics to be assigned later this semester. All essays are expected to contain an introduction with a strong thesis statement (in the first paragraph), a clear and logical organizational structure with crisp topic sentences, paragraphs that sustain the essay's argument by properly citing sources, and a lucid conclusion. For matters of clarity and style consult Strunk and White's Elements of Style (free online): see link via ICON. Discussion: In addition to essay writing and test taking, you will also be asked to participate regularly in class discussion. Thus, attendance counts. Exam questions and paper topics are often derived directly from class discussion. Students are expected to arrive at class on time , and to be prepared to ask questions (not so much to me, but better yet, to your classmates) concerning the assigned readings. Students must complete all of the day's assigned readings prior to the beginning of class (and I suggest reading some of the documents more than once). Students who arrive late or have not completed the reading will be marked absent . Participation will be evaluated through various weekly assignments. You should expect to read 50-75 pages per week, and come to class prepared to discuss questions and interpretations. Keep in mind that some readings will be more difficult than others, some will be more interesting, and some will be more important. By definition, discussion sections are based on a conversation between students which is facilitated by the discussion leader (me). At