English

After completing all the reading, videos and podcasts for the week, write an essay answer for each of the following questions: https://blog.joangarry.com/ep-18-mission-control-strategic-planning-liana-downey/ https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/inspiring-company-mission-statements What does it mean to make a plan for the plan? When Miami University creates a strategic plan, who would be stakeholders’ whose input they would want to consider? How do you hold an organization accountable to the plan? Explain why it is important to determine if your programs are in line with your mission statement.  When creating a strategic plan, how far out should organizations be planning?

Question: Answer one of the following questions: 1.Throughout the novel, the reader is told that Don Quixote is mad, driven by his irrational belief that he is living out the romances of chivalry that he has read. However, the contemporary Spain he encounters seems to be highly immoral and unethical. Are we meant to see Don Quixote as simply a satire of medieval literature, or is there some value in his antiquated morality? Make sure to support your answer with specific examples from the text. 2.Machiavelli’s concept of a strong ruler, who was driven by pragmatism instead of morality, was a direct challenge to the political thought of his time, which insisted on the importance of Christian ethics. How do Machiavelli’s ideas fit with our contemporary understanding of politics? Was he correct in his belief that ethics should be subordinate to other considerations? Remember that your claims in all parts of the assignment should be substantiated by excerpts from appropriate sources (scholarly research and/or literary texts). Quotes, paraphrases, and summaries used in the assignment should be arranged according to APA rules of style, and in-text and reference citations should be provided, also formatted in APA style. Quoted material should not exceed 25% of the post.

Write a three-page paper that demonstrates your understanding of the importance of the uses of performance appraisals (both administrative and developmental actions). Please also include a discussion of the types of appraisals (informal vs. systematic). And finally, provide an examination of who conducts appraisals (the various possible rating situations) and the available tools for appraising performance. Your paper will include the following: An introduction that engages the reader, presents the focus of the paper, and gives the reader an idea of flow of the document. A compelling demonstration of your understanding of the importance of understanding the full potential of using performance appraisals effectively. A conclusion that reinforces the main ideas of the paper. Font Type: Times New Roman Font Size: 12 point Margins: 1 inch on all sides Spacing: Double-spacing Alignment: Left Paragraph Indentation: Use the Tab key to indent all paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin

Current Event Assignment Instructions:   It is important for us to be aware of the events going on in the world today. These current events will need to be focused on the US government, politics, public policy, etc. (not sports or entertainment). Some of the best places to find political news are: Politico, NPR, the Associated Press, Reuter, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, Factcheck.org, Politifact, PBS Newshour and any of the ABC, NBC or CBS national news sites. Use one of these resources to complete the following items:   Summary: Write a summary paragraph in your own words about the article. A paragraph should be at least 4-5 sentences.   Significance and Connection: Write a paragraph discussing why you chose this article and how it is important to our class. How does this article connect to a theme in our class (constitution, federalism, elections, public policy, etc.)? A paragraph should be at least 4-5 sentences.   Two questions and opinion: What are 2 questions you have about the article? What is your opinion of the issue discussed in the article? Write another 4-5 sentence paragraph about these issues.   Reference: Cite the article using proper citation form. Make sure you include the direct link to the article.    This needs to be a current event (so within the last year).    Questions to answer: Who, what, when, what, and why.

PART ONE: Watch the above piece and review the deatils about it below.  Witnessed (1997) Directed by Allen Kaeja and Mark Adam https://youtu.be/DXa2gm7zK10 Choreography by Allen Kaeja Produced by Allen Kaeja, Trisha McKell and Mark Adam Cinematography by Mark Adam Original Music: Edgardo Moreno Musicians: Colleen Cook, Eve Egoyan, Stephen Green, Michele Irion Sound Editor: John Gzoski Performers: Sylvie Bouchard, Philip Drube, Karen Kaeja, Susan Lee, David Zurack Witnessed is a five-minute film inspired from the dance piece Courtyard choreographed by Allen Kaeja. Allen delves into the times his family lived through during the Holocaust of WWII, by exploring the relationships of five individuals after months of forced confinement inside the Ghetto walls. The story of Witnessed is one of displacement, unrelenting fear and community support in a time of crisis.  In the ghetto, you could never become too attached to anyone for fear that they could disappear the next day. Tenderness happened in moments and the only constants were hunger and corpses. – Mania Kay, family friend and Holocaust survivor   PART TWO: After watching the video, describe what you saw AND connect it to today. Make sure you include details about movements, costumes, story, and more.  There is no wrong way to respond as long as you are describing AND then connecting it with your thoughts of the world today.  HINT: We are not in the same war state as when this piece was created but what challenges are we facing today in the world that could be related to this work ( a dance piece is called a work)? How does the movements/dancing show the story or themes in the piece?   Your response should be a minimum of 5-7 sentences in paragraph form but can be longer if needed. Please use correct grammar in your response.

Develop a set of questions and seek to answer those questions through reading and reflecting on this set of articles. In the essay, you will bring the articles into conversation with one another, and explore related themes, consonance and dissonance, assessing what, together, this group of readings says about your questions, and what gaps and limits might be evident. I have the sources picked out already and can provide and also a paper outline to make things easier for you.

Play Discussions are about the plays that you read or see for the class and is a little less formal then the Weekly Discussion Boards. The Play Discussion Boards are dedicated to the plays you are reading or watching. For these discussions I have divided you into smaller groups to facilitate deeper and more meaningful discussions. You need to use the prompt but the discussion can go wherever you as a group decide it should go. To really understand a play one must discuss it, argue about it, and defend your thoughts about it. This Discussion Board is an attempt to do just that.   Negative Space is a unique piece to say the least.  What is this piece about?  How did it make you feel? Was there a story, or was it just unrelated vignettes? Did the lack of voices (or words) help or hinder the story telling process? If you had to pick a color, adjective, animal or some to act as a simile https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/simile  (Links to an external site.) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/simile

Your main post is due Wednesday by 11:59 p.m. and replies by Sunday 11:59 p.m. Please choose ONE of the following options for your discussion board: Option 1: Watch the following TedTalk by Sheryl Sandberg (top excecutive at facebook and creator of the “lean in” phenomena).  Then answer the following questions: 1. Why don’t women “sit at the table”? 2. Why is success for men positive and for women negative? 3. Despite the gains in the workforce women have enjoyed, why hasn’t more equality and gains been made within the home (the focus here being on women with male partners)? 4. What can be done? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18uDutylDa4

1. Read full details about the Scholar Strike for Black Lives in Canada (https://scholarstrikecanada.ca/ )  2. Attend the Teach-In “Co-Conspiring Against Carceral Systems” 2-3 pm Thursday Sept 10 with Presenters: Megan Scribe (Links to an external site.) (Ininiw iskwew), Acting Assistant Professor, Sociology, Ryerson University Eve Tuck (Links to an external site.) (Unangax?), Associate Professor, Social Justice Education, OISE, University of Toronto Event Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_0GfdXNSJhhAsvwV0psWaw/live Or, if you cannot attend this teach-in, attend at least one other Scholar Strike event on Wednesday, Sept 9 or Thursday Sept. 10. (likely several of these will be recorded and available on Youtube. Please check the Scholars Strike website and YouTube channel if you miss the live streams). If you cannot attend one of these events, you may choose to watch or read and reflect on events in the US Scholar Strike, available here: https://www.scholarstrike.com/resources (Links to an external site.)  3. Write a short reflexive essay about the event you attended. Your reflexive essay must include the following: a. Your name b. Title of Event c. Names of Presenters d. Date and Time of Event e. A brief summary of the event and of the information and knowledges that were shared in this event. (About 150 words) f. A brief reflection about what you learned from this event, how it had an impact on your understanding of any of the following: race, racism, white supremacy, policing, prisons, carcerality, the university, education, Indigenous knowledges, Indigenous resistance, Black Resistance, anti-racist activism, social justice, anti-colonial resistance, anti-colonial education, anti-racist education. (About 150 words). Rubric – Up to 5 marks. To receive all 5 marks, students must include all components a-f, as well as demonstrate an engagement with the complexity of the ideas discussed in the event you attend.   All of the above AND engages with the full complexity of ideas presented, writes in well-developed sentences and paragraphs with well-developed ideas and extends reflection to consider current or recent events in Canada or elsewhere.  Students may reflect on their own experience, but the majority of this short reflection essay should be taken up with a reflection on what happened in the event itself!

The Report:   Topic 2: Micro-work and Uni   IMPORTANT: This is only an imaginary scenario set in a very near future:   University students are contacted by message or email and offered micro-work online which is available when they want it, through a new phone app the university itself promotes and installs when students enrol. It integrates a student’s timetable and then pushes messages to them a short time after they finish a class, telling them what microwork on the web is available. Interested students log in directly through a university portal to private internet company EZ-Task-Boss, which can direct them to short online jobs – which are paid very badly (everyone admits) but have a sort of ‘convenience’ because they are available 24/7. The universities, in partnership with EZ-Task-Boss, receive a very small bonus fee for each student completing a microwork task. Students that have passed a literacy test can do basic editing. Others screen through and edit images loaded onto social media sites. Some clean up scanned forms or look for errors in code. Students have their pay for work directly credited to their student loan account – each small job taking a little off their debt. They can look on their phone at their Boss-Tab screen, and see the running total climb with each new unit they enrol in, and gradually fall with each small micro-task accomplished.   Critics of the new work scheme say it is a terrible confusion of study and work, which might motivate some students to neglect their studies in favour of picking up more and more small jobs, chiselling away at their debt. They also say that universities should not be messing with their core task, which is education, and governments should not be partnering universities with private companies.   The government has commented that companies like EZ are “helping young people to recognize the debt they owe society for their education, and helping fund universities!”. An opposition party rejects that: “society has a duty to educate students – they are our future; we should invest in them.”   The universities in the EZ-group say it is ‘incentivising’ students to realistically connect work and studies and offer immediate means to deal with their debt. One university mentions that five of their graduates have since joined EZ as software developers, and they have some interesting ideas for high schools …   Should the app and the work program be banned? Why or why not?         Your Report: You are writing a report explaining the issue to a small community group. You are the only person who has studied the issue at university in your favourite unit – Thinking Critically about Texts and Society! And that makes you confident you can untangle the different interests and values and discuss the issue.   [You must] Use the main reading for this topic (Webster, ‘Micro-workers’) and/or something (one or two more items) from the short list in the Report-Micro-work section in the vUWS Reading List to help define any terms or issues.     The Report: 1000 words total. Word document, double space or space and a half, put references in a references list at the end. Research using at least two items; one of them can be the main reading from the relevant week. Use APA referencing   Deadline is extended for all students to Sunday September 20th 5 PM   SET OUT YOUR REPORT USING THE FORMAT BELOW: Name, Title, then the Bolded Section subtitles  – Section 1) Interests …. Section 2) Principles and values etc.   Read what each section is asking you to do         Student Name and student number:     Case Study title: (come up with a title of your own for the topic)   Section 1) Interests: What are the different interests or ‘stakeholders’ in this problem? List the different groups and their interests or ‘stakes’ in the problem. What do they want? (about 200 words)   Section 2) Principles and values: Show how the different interest groups might have different principles in thinking about the issue. Which are economic, which are ethical, and which are more political. (about 2-300 words)   Section 3) Discussion: Explain the contrasting or conflicting perspectives. Define any important terms or concepts relevant to the issue. Look at the different options for reaching a resolution. Can some compromise work or not? (about 4-500 words)   Section 4) Your brief recommendation – what do you think should happen? And why? (about 100 words)   Reference List: