Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties 2011-2012 Essay
Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties 2011-2012 - Essay Example Behaviourism with emotional and behavioural difficulties Introduction This critical review is about ‘Behaviourism’ and its role in learning while helping students having behavioural and emotional complications. In the first section Behaviourism is defined and its background discussed in detail. Then the role of Behaviourism in teaching and the point of view of different groups regarding its importance in applying for removing the SEBD issues in classrooms. At the very end in conclusion, a brief overview has been given for its improvisation in Saudi Arabian schools to improve the teaching methods and techniques and entails a new policy for SEBD students. More importantly the research question has been given at the end aroused from this review. Background John B. Watson, initially brought in ‘behaviourism’ into examination in the year 1912, which minted the word ‘behaviourism’. In 1938, this study was further preceded by B. F. Skinner who proposed that ‘learning’ can be determined as a discernible change. Afterwards, Ralph Tyler then made use viewpoints from behaviourism, in 1949, to direct lesson design. Behaviourism, merely deals with altering the behaviour by honouring demanded actions and penalizing or neglecting unwanted activities. Behaviour theorists determined ‘learning’ as nothing beyond the attainment of a novel behaviour. ‘Behaviour Modification’, a teaching framework was formulated through the previously identified research works and findings (Alberto and Troutman, 1995). The fundamentals of the behaviourist theory go back to the philosopher Aristotle (Black, 1995). This theory illustrates that the learning of behaviors could be assessed and noticed. It identifies the brain as a "black box" as the reaction to any stimulant can be detected quantitatively, entirely neglecting the likelihood of intellections happening in the brain. Skinner, Pavlov, Thorndike and Watson are the most famous behaviourists who played significant role in developing this theory. B.F Skinner was a psychologist who put forward this theory of Behaviourism. He believed that behaviour is controlled by cause and effect and it has got nothing to do with mind or reasoning. Behaviourism is considered as conditioning or training introduced by Pavlov, a Russian psychologist. The classical conditioning was formulated by Ivan Pavlov, a physiologist of Russian origin. It may be referred as, ‘A sort of learning, established by linkage of a classified stimulant unable to commonly evoke peculiar reactions on some other stimulant having the ability to evoke a desired reaction (Feldman, Papalia and Olds, 2007). The above mentioned description inculcates that the fundamental elements in this type of conditioning is the term linkage, depicting that the simultaneous occurrence of two distinct stimulants frequently will lead to the development of linkage in them.. For example if a student faces continuously a problem in his/her English language class in the shape of unfriendly teacher, unmanageable questions, and a great deal of home assignments may create an undesired perception in his/her brain about the instructor (Murdick and Petch-Hogan, 1996; Schloss and Smith, 1994). Classical conditioning was discovered by Pavlov by accident. Originally, he wanted to study the role of salivation in digestion. He measured that when given meat, how much saliva dogs produce. After a few days in the experiment, Pavlov noticed that the dogs in his laboratory started salivating when the lab attendant entered the room with the meat dish, before meat was placed in their mouth. This aroused Pavlov’s curiosity and he pursued the issue with more experiments. For example, he sounded a bell just before presenting his dogs with food. Before obtaining food, various times, following the sound of the ringing bell, the dogs were observed to start salivating as shortly as the bell started to ring. In other word, in reaction to a novel stimulant (the
Monday, October 28, 2019
The Cask of Amontillado Essay Example for Free
The Cask of Amontillado Essay In Edgar Allan Poe’s horrific tale of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†readers witness a journey of two people wondering through an underground graveyard leading to a tragic and twisted end. Most readers assume that the character of Montresor is a male figure. All of the actions of Montresor, throughout the course of the story, are full capabilities of a woman. It could be possible that our two characters had a love affair before our gruesome tale plays out. Let us say that Montresor is a mistress of Fortunado. He insults her in front of another man, couple, or lover publicly; as it is never said what the insult is specifically. Upon this insult Montresor, our female character, is so enraged with adrenaline and emotion that she plots a plan to show Fortunado that she is a force to be reckoned with. While the adrenaline pulses through her veins she disassembles the wall with ease and preps it for the demise of the unsuspecting enemy. As most have heard or witnessed in everyday life, powerful surges of adrenaline can cause people to do tasks they normally would have no strength to accomplish. As she lures our ironically unfortunate Fortunado through the musty, damp tunnel of underground, she taunts him. Or could this be her feminine compassion coming to the surface of the reality that is to be Fortunado’s fate? As she continues to suggest turning around on the journey, she comforts him and his cold as though she could be having second thoughts. Montresor has a compassionate heart and conscious. A man would rarely show these traits. Finally, she has him right where she wants the insulting character. The taste of revenge returns. She remembers why she has brought our victim to his bone chilling demise. She replays the time or countless times that Fortunado has insulted her publicly and she shows him what he deserves. Bone by bone, she finds pleasurable satisfaction in her plan. As the saying goes, â€Å"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned†.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
computer Fields :: essays research papers
Duaane B. Carrington Jr.                                   Mr. Cattell Rough Draft                                             11/7/01 Introduction      For my term paper the field I chose was computers. I chose this field because I love computers and it s a field on the rise. When doing my research about computers, I tried to stay focused on a few different types of fields. I did this because I thought that doing every different type of field would not help me chose the right field for me. Computers is such a big field that it was almost no problem picking a couple of computer fields to talk about in my term paper. Preparation      When doing some research I found out some ways to prepare yourself for the field of computers. First you should have good study habits and take a lot of notes during class. It would help you if you had a laptop so you can do some of your work in your dormitory instead of using the computer lab on the school campus (Cobb, interview). If you know nothing about the field that you are doing, then you should narrow down your classes, and take a side class that will help you prepare for your field. Since there are so many mathematic problems dealing with computers you should be well rounded with math in high school (Cobb, interview). If you are not good with math, then you should try to do anything possible to try and improve your math capabilities. Opportunities      There are many opportunities with the field of computers. A lot of jobs are offered to college students during their time in college. Some jobs offer the student so much money that they could live off of that if they were to leave college at that moment in time ( ex.35,000). Some job offers in different fields of computers are vast, but some are very hard make it in. You should pick a field that nobody really knows about make sure it has good pay. General      I found out that having someone who majored or knows something in the field of computers that you are in, you will need them if you have to ask them a question about something in your field that you can’t answer. There is a high demand for computer experts in certain fields, because a big or small corporation might need someone in that area to help them become successful (Cobb, interview). There is a lot of programming in computers.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
The Morning Of The Dolphins :: essays research papers
Taryn awoke to the buzzing of the alarm beside her bed. As her eyes adjusted to the morning light, she saw the tacky flowered wallpaper and smelled that smell of a room that had been cleaned thousands of times with the same Lysol cleaner. At first she couldn’t recollect where she was. After a few moments, Taryn remembered, she was at the Seaside Hotel. Her mother, father, and she had arrived at the little lived in hotel the night before after a 4-hour plane ride from Connecticut. Taryn loved Florida. She loved the heat, the sun, and, most of all, the ocean. The sound of Taryn’s mother’s voice brought her out of her sleepiness. â€Å"Taryn! For god’s sake, get up. You are on vacation, a good child would definitely be up and showered and ready to go by now,†Taryn sighed at this remark. All through her child hood she had listened to that same phrase â€Å"a good child would†¦Ã¢â‚¬ It was just one of her mother’s ways to get her motivated, but it never worked. â€Å"I’m going, I’m going. What is the rush anyway? I thought dad said we weren’t doing anything special, we were just going to be spontaneous today?†Taryn replied with a smirk. Her father always tried to make their family vacations more exciting, but it NEVER worked out. â€Å"You’ll see.†Her mother said, with one of her own little smirks. â€Å"Now get out of bed!!!†With a melodramatic sigh Taryn rolled over the side of the bed and drudged into the bathroom for a shower. She wondered to herself what her mom was up to. It was probably nothing, as usual. Taryn shoved the idea out of her mind and finished her shower and changed. Her dad walked into the hotel room as Taryn was brushing her long brown hair. â€Å"You ready yet kid?†he asked. He had a look on his face like he was up to something. â€Å"Okay! Tell me what is going on!†she shrieked with impatience. â€Å"Just get in the car and enjoy the ride,†he said, the look growing stronger. Taryn eagerly but cautiously obliged, throwing looks of curiosity at her father as they walked down the hall and got into the car. Her mother was already waiting, doing her makeup in the visor mirror. Taryn received another mischievous glance from her mother as she buckled her seatbelt. They drove for about 15 minutes, looking out at the glistening gulf water. The Morning Of The Dolphins :: essays research papers Taryn awoke to the buzzing of the alarm beside her bed. As her eyes adjusted to the morning light, she saw the tacky flowered wallpaper and smelled that smell of a room that had been cleaned thousands of times with the same Lysol cleaner. At first she couldn’t recollect where she was. After a few moments, Taryn remembered, she was at the Seaside Hotel. Her mother, father, and she had arrived at the little lived in hotel the night before after a 4-hour plane ride from Connecticut. Taryn loved Florida. She loved the heat, the sun, and, most of all, the ocean. The sound of Taryn’s mother’s voice brought her out of her sleepiness. â€Å"Taryn! For god’s sake, get up. You are on vacation, a good child would definitely be up and showered and ready to go by now,†Taryn sighed at this remark. All through her child hood she had listened to that same phrase â€Å"a good child would†¦Ã¢â‚¬ It was just one of her mother’s ways to get her motivated, but it never worked. â€Å"I’m going, I’m going. What is the rush anyway? I thought dad said we weren’t doing anything special, we were just going to be spontaneous today?†Taryn replied with a smirk. Her father always tried to make their family vacations more exciting, but it NEVER worked out. â€Å"You’ll see.†Her mother said, with one of her own little smirks. â€Å"Now get out of bed!!!†With a melodramatic sigh Taryn rolled over the side of the bed and drudged into the bathroom for a shower. She wondered to herself what her mom was up to. It was probably nothing, as usual. Taryn shoved the idea out of her mind and finished her shower and changed. Her dad walked into the hotel room as Taryn was brushing her long brown hair. â€Å"You ready yet kid?†he asked. He had a look on his face like he was up to something. â€Å"Okay! Tell me what is going on!†she shrieked with impatience. â€Å"Just get in the car and enjoy the ride,†he said, the look growing stronger. Taryn eagerly but cautiously obliged, throwing looks of curiosity at her father as they walked down the hall and got into the car. Her mother was already waiting, doing her makeup in the visor mirror. Taryn received another mischievous glance from her mother as she buckled her seatbelt. They drove for about 15 minutes, looking out at the glistening gulf water.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Reaction time Essay
Back crawl is different to most strokes because you cannot see where you are going. I know that the skill backstroke is a weakness of my performance because my coach informs me that I have a weak leg kick action. If your leg kick is weak it can make your body position fall slightly diagonally into the water. He tells me I need to bend my knees more and flex my ankles when kicking. My arm action provides most of the power, as my arms make circling actions as they move in and out of the water. Overall the arm action is good but I need to reach and stretch more into every stroke. Also I drop my head forwards into the water and don’t hold it back enough. This can make my body position sink, therefore I need to lift my hips up and make sure my head is looking up instead of down, consequently the overall efficiency would be improved. Also as a part of my backstroke technique, my backstroke tumble turns are a weakness in my performance. I know this because I have had video analysis and it shows that sometimes I do to many arm pulls into the turn on my front, where as your only supposed to do one. Therefore my arm action is too soon, and I need to do less front arm pulls. In the somersault part of the tumble turn, the overall rotation is not fast enough, because my body position isn’t in a tight enough tuck shape. I need to kick harder with my legs so that I rotate and flip faster. When I glide off the wall in a streamline position my butterfly leg action is weak, therefore I don’t get enough distance underwater and sometimes I don’t even reach the flags. The overall efficiency of the tumble turn is slow and not fluent. Strategy/Tactic Weaknesses: Building up through out a 800m/ Long-distance race. When I swim long distance races I find it hard to increase my pace through out the race therefore a maintain the same speed. I know this tactic is a weakness in my performance because I know am more of a sprint/middle distance swimmer, and also I prefer to take part in these events. Components of Fitness Weaknesses: The component of fitness speed is a weakness in my performance because it is proven that in fitness testing I have scored only average. In swimming speed is the ability to exert maximum muscular contraction instantly in an explosive burst of movements, example a sprint start of the diving blocks. You need speed more when your swimming sprint races example 50m ,100m races. There is a significant degree of technique when trying to build up speed. It’s all about a mix of breathing, arm and feet movements, but you must have good muscle force behind before you can increase your speed. There is the fact that some people are just born with an ability to go faster than others. Whilst you can train faster you might never be as fast as your training partner, as they may have a different muscle composition that they’ve inherited. This will in itself help them go faster. So speed is most important in sprint races and starts. Another weakness in my performance is the fitness component, reaction time. Reaction time is being able to respond quickly to a stimulus. It important in many sports though it can be measured. Simple reaction time is the time taken between a stimulus and movement e.g., sprint start off a diving block. For example at the start of a swimming race the official signals a gun or a type of noise that indicates you to start the race, you have to respond quickly to this. Therefore reaction time is essential at the start of a race. I know that reaction time is a weakness in my performance because it is proven that in fitness testing a have scored below average. So when I combine my reaction time in swimming to the start of a race, I am slower at reacting to the starters gun. Therefore this is something I need to improve on.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Yanomamo Tribe Essays - Yanomami, Hei T Bebi, Hedu K Misi, War
Yanomamo Tribe Essays - Yanomami, Hei T Bebi, Hedu K Misi, War Yanomamo Tribe The Yanomamo My name is Eric Dunning and this is my proposal to go and study the Yanomamo tribe in the rain forests of Brazil. I have compiled a historical outline of the Yanomamo tribe and some of their religion and culture, ranging from marital status to the type of food they eat. I have chosen this tribe because according to many anthropologists the Yanomamo are perhaps the last culture to have come in contact with the modern world. The Yanomamo people of Central Brazil are one of the oldest examples of the classic pre-Columbian forest footmen. The Yanomamo live in almost complete seclusion in the Amazon rain forests of South America. The Yanomamo live in small bands or tribes and live in round communal huts called shabonos, which are actually made up of individual living quarters. The Yanomamo language consists of a variety of dialect, but no real written language. Clothes are minimal, and much of their daily life revolves around gardening, hunting, gathering, making crafts and visiting with one another. These small tribes hold their men in high ranks. Chiefs are always men who are held responsible for the general knowledge and safety of the group's women. The men are able to beat their wives if they feel the need to and are able to marry more than one woman at a time. This loose form of polygamy is a way of increasing the population of the tribe. Yanomamo people rely heavily on a system of political alliances based upon relationship. As part of that system, they have incorporated a complex feasting and trading system into their culture. One of these methods of forming political alliances is feasting. Feasting is when one village invites another village for a feast or dinner. During the feast there is a lot of social activity. The Yanomamo dance and mingle with each other along with eating a different variety of foods. The only catch is the other village must reciprocate a feast by one village. This feast is more like an American dinner party in which members of family or social group invite others to attend. A feast however can be dangerous and or fatal for those who attend. The Yanomamo can be very conniving and deceiving. They pretend to be loyal friends and invite the other village for a feast. The other very village very trustfully attends the feast not knowing that this might be their last meal. After the feast when the guests are helplessly resting in their hammocks they are attack ed and brutally beaten to death. The Yanomamo live in a constant state of warfare with other tribes and even within their own groups. Marriages are often arranged according to performances of one's relatives in battles. Ideal marriages are thought to consist of cross cousin marriages and the males of the family and the religious leaders of the tribe perform all marriages. In addition to their strong kinship ties, political alliances and thirst for revenge, the Yanomamo have a detailed religion, based on the use of hallucinogenic drugs and the telling of mythical tales. The religious beliefs of the Yanomamo are quite complex. According to Yanomamo wise men, there are four levels of reality. Through them, the Yanomamo believe that things tend to fall or descend downward to a lower layer is demonstrated. The uppermost layer of the four is thought to be pristine and tender. It is called duku ka misi and the Yanomamo believe that many things originated in this area. This layer does not play much of a role in the everyday life of the Yanomamo. It is considered to be just there, once having some vague function. The next layer down is called hedu ka misi and is known as the sky layer. The top surface is supposedly invisible, but is believed to be similar to earth. It has trees, gardens, villages, animals, plants and most importantly, the souls of the deceased. These souls are said to be similar to mortals because they garden, eat and sleep. Everything that exists on earth is said to have a counterpart on this level. The bottom surface of the layer is said to be what the Yanomamo on earth actually see:
Monday, October 21, 2019
The Distance Between Me And My Readers - A Bob Mayer Interview
The Distance Between Me And My Readers - A Bob Mayer Interview â€Å"The distance between me and my readers is the internet†An interview with Bob Mayer How can indie authors use eBooks to their full advantage, creatively exploiting their potential to be adapted over time and linked to an author’s whole output?Bob Mayer is a New York Times Bestselling Author who is not afraid to explore the incredible new opportunities available to authors. With 60 books published - both traditionally published and indie-published - Bob has sold over four million books. He and is also a leadership speaker and consultant, coaching authors on many aspects of writing and publishing. He is also CEO of Cool Gus Publishing and his latest book Time Patrol has just come out. On top of all that, he is the only West Point Graduate and Former Green Beret we’ve ever had the pleasure of interviewing! We talk about his work as a hybrid author, his marketing techniques, and Italian book covers†¦ It’s really great to be interviewing Bob this afternoon - a New York Times bestselling author, writing coach, who also writes a lot about publishing and self-publishing. Firstly Bob, it’d be great to start with your writing course Write on the River, how is it going?I’ve been doing writing workshops for a number of years - I used to hold small intimate workshops and various bed and breakfasts. After my wife and I moved to the Tennessee River, we got a nice big house, so a couple of times a year we bring four writers into the weekend, working with them on their books. The weekend after this I’ve got four people coming down.So you work with them on all sorts of things, structure and character development, that type of thing?I change it for every group because every group is a little different. I’ve had number one New York Times bestsellers here - usually it’s published authors with some experience, but occasionally I’ve had a new auth or. We usually spend a lot of time on the ‘idea and conflict lock’ and a lot of time talking about the business, because so many things are up in flux right now.Many authors - even established authors - are wondering right now, â€Å"should I become a hybrid author?†, â€Å"should I keep traditionally publishing?†, â€Å"should I self-publish?†One of our authors came down here for the weekend and she’s publishing with Cool Gus, so she’s become a hybrid author.You are a hybrid author who has published a number of different ways, could you tell us a bit more about that?I was published in New York for 42 books - Random House, St Martins - many big houses. Then I went self-publishing as I had a huge backlist to which I owned the rights and formed my own publishing company Cool Gus.I knew from the very beginning what I wanted was to sign with 47 North, Amazon’s Science Fiction imprint. The main reason I did that was because of their marketing capabilities. They have tremendous power to market you on their site. So I’ve got a book we’re going to publish May 5th. I’ve got a book coming back from 47 North that’s due out in August, so I alternate writing science-fiction for amazon and thrillers for my own company.What is it specifically about their marketing that interested you?They have reach: they call it ‘merchandising’. They really know who the readers are and have huge databases. They know everyone who has bought one of their previous books and send them an email. They also do pricing - in the UK they have a ‘book for a pound’ - they pick a number of titles and promote those. There is a huge difference sales-wise when you use any of these platforms - whether Amazon, Apple or Audible ACX - they give you some ‘merchandising’ and your sales can skyrocket.Yes, we’ve found with many authors that email lists are really helpful, because you ar e talking to an engaged audience, and that it’s worth slowly building them upYes, we don’t send many newsletters out because we feel many people are bombarded by them, but we are focusing on building our list this year. The other thing we have is a private Facebook group called ‘The A-team’: we’ve got about 30 people in there. These are people who really like my books. It’s a small intimate group where we chat about what I’m writing. If you can get a core of about 40-50 readers who talk about you and promote you, that’s huge. The book - Time Patrol (Area 51: The Nightstalkers Book 4) - just came out yesterday and I’ve already got a handful of reviews, mainly because of those types of people.I like the idea of nurturing a small but dedicated small fan group. They are the one’s you can have a personal connection to.The most important thing is readers. I’ve got a huge Twitter following, but I don’t reall y think it sells books; I don’t think a huge Facebook following sells books - although these things aren’t bad of course. The distance between me and my readers is the internet. I can communicate with them and respond to every email I get or every mention on Twitter. I think that’s key.There’s lot of resistance in the publishing industry to change - I think that’s because so much of it doesn’t change: it’s always going to be about great content and writing. But, of course, things are changing: are there any new developments that are interesting to you?Subscription is big. A lot of people are complaining about Kindle Unlimited for sales dropping, but Kindle Unlimited occurred at the same time as the content flood hit the eBook market - there’s just so much content out there and that’s not going away.We don’t fight those things. Yesterday we got a cheque from Draft2Digital and the Scribd subscription service. We use those things; we use Kindle Unlimited. I broke one of my non-fiction books into 15 shorts, dedicated totally to Kindle Unlimited. I think writers waste a lot of time tilting at windmills they can’t change. They need to look at the publishing landscape and use everything out there to the best of their abilities.Yes, and I think they could anticipate change a lot more than they actually do.Ha! Yea, although I don’t think anyone could tell you where we’re going to be a year from now. It does always come back to good content though. The good thing is that I think if you write a good book, that’s a big part of it and then you do have to get out there and reach the readers. The readers have to know the book exists.You’ve said in the past that this is the moment in publishing you are most excited to be a part of because the author has control.Absolutely! What I’m doing right now didn’t exist ten years ago. Ten years ago I would hold the rig ht to 50 books and be able to do absolutely nothing with them. I wouldn’t be able to sell them to anybody - I couldn’t get them in the bookstore. Now, they are in virtual bookstores, I can sell them to readers. One of our saying is â€Å"If you haven’t read it, it’s not backlist†. I was reading my first book from 1991 and I realised to someone reading it now, it’s a brand new book.One of the interesting things right now is how publishing is relating to other media. People talk about how it is conflicting of complementing other media - cable TV, movies, games, etc - but do you think also that a lot of writers could learn about how they market these media?I see writers say â€Å"go kill your TV†, but my wife and I watch a lot of TV and the writing is fantastic. Marketing-wise, if you look at what Netflix did with the Kevin Spacey show, where they released it all on the same day, I think that’s something to think about.People want instant gratification now. It used to be that in traditional publishing, I have to give a book a year, but I had to write under three pen names because they would not allow me to publish more than a book a year. Now, you cannot publish fast enough, or write fast enough to keep up with demand from readers!Yes, maybe you could experiment publishing lots at once, gaining a core reader group, then change your strategy, slow down or create anticipation.Yes one thing we’re doing is we’re putting out a book every three months this year and what I’m doing personally is I’m racking my books together. I just had a book come out yesterday that loops back to my early Atlantic series, so what I’m doing is connecting the dots over 25 years of books.At the end of the book, I say â€Å"if you want to know more about this character, go to this series†, â€Å"if you want to know more about this world, go to this series†. I think that gives readers mor e options to go through the back story.Now your books are always out there - they don’t grow old, so you can create these links in ways which weren’t previously possible.One thing I often talk about in my business is that an eBook is not like a print book: it’s very, very different. It’s organic. It’s changing. We have so many titles that when we bring out a new one, we have to go into the back and change all the links in it, we have to change the metadata.Yesterday my new book came out and is called Time Patrol and I asked my business partner, â€Å"by the way, do these books have another subgenre on Amazon of ‘time travel’, because this is actually another best seller list!†and she’d already taken care of that. So it’s just constant change, and I think it’s caught traditional publishers a little by surprise, because they are used to the ‘fire and forget’ method. They published a book and itâ €™s out there, it’s never going to change. An eBook changes constantly. I’m not talking the content - although you can do that - I’m talking all the things around it: the cover the endman, the metadata, so it’s a constant churning of things.Have you experimented with changing covers?Oh yea! We’ve changed covers. Actually, you often have to change covers, like on Amazon, where there are certain promotional things you can’t get into if you have things like a gun on the cover. I totally understand, because people complain, but you have to change the image and remove the gun, simply to get in these marketing programs!I think it’s endlessly fascinating how in different countries, different covers just work and different ones just don’t work. I think you can learn a lot about individual countries by the book covers they like!I was in a book store in Italy where it was always a scantily-clad woman on the cover with an atomic blast in the background and there was no woman in a bikini in the book! They just stick it there because that’s what sells.So much of indie publishing seems to require a certain kind of author: entrepreneurial and someone who can effectively manage their own business. Do you think that may change? Do you think it could incorporate other types of writers who are perhaps not entrepreneurial, but who still want control and the best of indie-publishing?Well, that’s a little what we do at Cool Gus. A handful of authors we work with just want to write, yet they want the freedom, so we take care of all the things for them, but we give them final say. So they don’t have to get caught up in the actual doing of it, but we’ll say, â€Å"What do you want on your cover?†- and they get the final say on that, cover copy, everything! So I think that’s a different business model.And so that they have a team to help themYes, I think it’s really hard to do it all well. There are people that do it, but it’s much easier to send someone an email and say â€Å"Please take care of this†.Where do you think agents may fit in the future?I think agents are evolving. Kristen Nelson who works with Hugh Howey is an example of an agent that’s really changed the way she looks at things. And I actually think traditional publishing is not going to die: it’s evolving and they are learning, changing and adapting. I’m querying agents right now because I need help with foreign rights. I can’t really travel to the London Book Fair, for example, so I need an agent to take care of those things for me.I think the reason publishing is so interesting is because it is a very complex industry and there are so many different things to be doing. What are you thinking about experimenting with in the next couple of years?It’s more about the creative part. I’ve been doing it so long, that what I realise is that I can produce better books faster and the market is there for it. I have so many series going, and at the same time I put a few experimental things out there. And I don’t have to sit there and worry, will my agent like it, will my editor like it, will my publisher like it, will the sales force think they can sell it? All I’ve got to care about is ‘will the readers like it?’ I don’t think that’s going to change: that I like. I can directly reach my readers and either they can hit that buy button or not, and that tells me if it’s working or not.That’s a really great message to send to our readers. Thanks so much for your time Bob!Follow @Bob_Mayer and @ReedsyHQ on TwitterDo you think too many authors waste time fighting things they can’t change? Where do you see agents fitting in in the future? Leave us your thoughts, or any question you have for Bob, in the comments below!
Sunday, October 20, 2019
40 Words Beginning with Para-
40 Words Beginning with Para- 40 Words Beginning with Para- 40 Words Beginning with Para- By Mark Nichol The prefix para- is versatile, meaning â€Å"beside,†â€Å"closely related,†or â€Å"closely resembling†; â€Å"accessory†or â€Å"subsidiary†; â€Å"beyond†; or â€Å"abnormal†or â€Å"faulty.†The commonality is that a word beginning with para- pertains to the relationship or resemblance of something to something else. This post lists and briefly defines words with the prefix. 1. parable (â€Å"throw beside†): a story illustrating a moral or religious principle 2. parabola (â€Å"throw beside†): a roughly U-shaped curve, or a similarly shaped object 3. paracentesis (â€Å"stab beside†): a puncturing surgical procedure 4. parachute (â€Å"against fall†): a canopy of fabric used to slow the fall of someone or something from an aircraft (or something figuratively similar), or a similar anatomical structure on an animal 5. paradigm (â€Å"show beside†): an example or pattern 6. parados (â€Å"against back†): a rear wall of a military trench 7. paradox (â€Å"outside of opinion†): something contrary to expectation 8. paragliding (â€Å"against descending smoothly,†on the model of parachute): an airborne activity involving a person harnessed to a maneuverable parachute-like wing 9. paragon (â€Å"beside whetstone†): a model or pattern of excellence 10. paragraph (â€Å"written beside†): a short piece of writing on one topic 11. paralanguage (â€Å"beside what is said†): vocal effects such as tone that convey additional meaning 12. paralegal (â€Å"beside law†): an assistant to a lawyer 13. paraleipsis (â€Å"pass over†): something mentioned only briefly, but emphasized by doing so 14. parallax (â€Å"change beside†): an inclination of two converging lines 15. parallel (â€Å"beside each other†): equidistant, or equal or similar, or arranged for simultaneity 16. parallelogram (â€Å"draw equal†): a four-sided shape with parallel sides of equal length 17. paralysis (â€Å"loosen beside†): loss of ability to move or act 18. paramagnetic (â€Å"abnormally attracting†): weakly magnetic 19. paramecium (â€Å"long on one side†): a type of single-celled animal 20. paramedic (â€Å"beside doctor†): medical personnel who treat injured or sick people before and while they are taken to a hospital, or who assist doctors 21. parameter (â€Å"beside measure†): a factor or limit 22. paramilitary (â€Å"resembling soldiers†): an unofficial military unit 23. paranoia (â€Å"beside mind†): delusional mental illness, or irrational suspicion 24. paranormal (â€Å"beside usual†): not scientifically explainable 25. parapet (â€Å"against breast†): a wall of stone or earth 26. paraphernalia (â€Å"beside dowry†): belongings or equipment 27. paraphilia (â€Å"beside love†): arousal about improper sexual practices 28. paraphrase (â€Å"point out beside†): restatement 29. paraplegia (â€Å"strike at one side†): paralysis of the lower body 30. parapraxis (â€Å"against practice†): blunder or lapse, or an error that reveals subconscious motives 31. paraprofessional (â€Å"beside skilled person†): one who assists a professional worker such as a teacher 32. parapsychology (â€Å"beside study of the mind†): investigation of psychic phenomena 33. paraquat (â€Å"resembling four,†from its chemical composition): an herbicide 34. parasailing (â€Å"against sail,†on the model of parachute): an airborne activity involving a person harnessed to a parachute-like device being pulled by a vehicle 35. parasite (â€Å"beside food†): an organism or entity that exploits a host or other entity 36. parasol (â€Å"against sun†): an umbrella for shielding the bearer from sunlight 37. parastate (â€Å"resembling political entity†): a political territory not recognized by others 38. parasympathetic (â€Å"beside feeling with†): pertaining to a part of the nervous system 39. paratransit (â€Å"beside travel†): individualized public transit 40. paratrooper (â€Å"against soldier,†on the model of parachute): a soldier specializing in parachuting from an aircraft Some words beginning with para-, such as parakeet, paramount, and paramour, are distantly related, not directly associated with the etymology of the prefix, while other words beginning with or including par- but followed by another vowel or a consonant are closely cognate; the latter group will be detailed in a subsequent post. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Idioms About NumbersCapitalization Rules for the Names of Games45 Idioms with "Roll"
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Investigating a Social Marketing Issue (Road Safety) - Making calls Case Study
Investigating a Social Marketing Issue (Road Safety) - Making calls during driving - Case Study Example It has become increasingly common to see people talking of their cellphones while driving. This has become a source of distraction while driving and thus increases the likelihood of accident rates. In many states, using cell phones while driving has become illegal considering the increasing rate of road accidents caused by distracted driving. Despite this many people use cellphones while driving. The first video is a shocking reminder of what call happen when a person uses cellphone while driving. The main reason why cellphone are prohibited while driving is because they distract the driver. The driver, at times, tends to lose focus on the road and this often leads to road accidents that are often fatal like in this particular case. The video appeals to the emotions of the viewers. The crying mother moves the viewers and they can feel her helplessness at such a needless death. The driver, in this video, is kept anonymous but one can develop a mental image of a busy woman who felt that she could not live without her cellphone even for one moment. The second link in this case study provides a very interesting debate. There are many who are not against the concept of using cell phones while driving. They argue that cell phones are not a source of distraction if used smartly. One of the people who replied to the thread commented that he was replying to the post while driving. This debates calls us to question whether laws against cellphone usage while driving are enough to deal with the issue because drivers are still careless. Younger people seem to be more at risk. This is mainly because young people are more addicted to their cell phones than any other people. Another reason behind this fact is that young people are not aware of the depth of the issue. Peer pressure further aggravates the problem. According to a survey conducted by CDC, 69 percent drivers between the age of 18 and 64 used their cell phones while driving (CDC,
Friday, October 18, 2019
The Polarization Of American Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
The Polarization Of American Politics - Essay Example The segregation of America into blue and red states aids in strengthening the perception of non-polarization of the American politics. Views of people in both states tend to be similar on common issues, such as the fiscal policy. Polarization is only evident among the elites in the society, but not the mass public. A weakness of the argument is that the basis of segregation of states into blue and red states. It is not realistic to elude that everyone in the blue states is Democrats and vice versa. In the second paper authored by Saunders and Abramowitz; with the title,†is polarization a myth?†supports the view that America is polarized. This is based on the ideological and party identification. It noted that politics from the yardstick to polarization. A weak point in this paper is that the perceptions are based on individuals rather than a percentage of masses that hold different views. In the final paper, â€Å"Rich State, Poor State, Red State, Blue State: What†™s the Matter with Connecticut?†the pattern of voting forms the basis of the argument. The paper argues that Republicans have more support from the rich while Democrats have more support from the poor. Perception of the argument changes preceding this week's discussion. The argument should focus more on the impact of polarization on the country rather than finding out if America is polarized. I believe that having the knowledge on the impacts of polarization should be prioritized to an analysis of the polarization of America.
What does Sartre mean by the claim existence procedes essence Essay
What does Sartre mean by the claim existence procedes essence - Essay Example Moreover, the word can be interpreted as meaning that not every item that matches its essence. A good example is that the essence of a bicycle is that it has two wheels and people cycle on it. However, one might have a bicycle with three wheels or that no one cycle on it. Hence, the real details of a specific bicycle make its existence. Besides, depending on the cultural practices of a particular group of people, what one culture can define to be good does not necessarily have to be good or complete with the other group for the item or object of judgment may differ (Sayer 24). When analyzing something it is vital to consider its existence before examining its qualities. Essence being an aspect of human life should be dealt with after the basic fact that is existence is critically considered. Even, though Sartre asserts that we need first to think about the mystery of a man very existence, this statement does not underrate existence and therefore, essence comes after existence (Sayre 25). In conclusion, a personality is built by the choice a person engages in not by exact purpose or predetermined model. Since humankind is unbounded hence one can define him/herself (Sayer 27). This means that in life, one is responsible in shaping his or her character and achievement one aspires to get. Sartre claims that the real thing becomes essentially after something is made to exist or manufactured. Therefore for something to be of the essence it must first have to exist but not
Thursday, October 17, 2019
PRACTISE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words
PRACTISE STUDY - Essay Example These activities of Imagine Mental Health stem from its belief that by supporting people with mental health problems it is possible to enable them to do what they want to do, live their lives as they want to live and access those opportunities that are available to all citizens, in short to lead a full and independent life (Imagine). Governmental support for these activities is available through the government social exclusion action plan. This action plan became a reality in September 2006, when the department of health and the department of work and pension initiated it to encourage social activities and employment for those suffering from severe mental health. The social exclusion action plan is envisaged as a programme that will involve the participation of the public sector, the private sector and the voluntary organization. As a voluntary organization with similar objectives as the social exclusion plan, Imagine Mental Health is associated with this effort of the government (Re aching Out: An Action Plan on Social Exclusion). The company operates through the mainstream service by enabling clients who have been socially excluded to reclaim their place back in the mainstream of society. The company is staffed by bridge builders, who have a background, and specialist expertise, in a number of life domains that the clients can choose to access. These domains include employment, volunteering, education and training, sports and leisure, art, cultural communities, faith and spirituality, and homes, families, neighbourhoods and befriending (Life Opportunities). As a social work student undergoing placement with Imagine, I have been given the role of employment, education and training bridge builder and also to support other bridge builders to attain the primary objectives of the clients. I have to be creative and have good networking skills to fulfil my responsibilities. I also support clients as their first contact point at Imagine for assessment and
Conflict of Interest Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Conflict of Interest - Case Study Example For instance, let us presume that Riordan Manufacturing has a pending petition for the issuance of a patent in a government office having charge of intellectual property and this lawyer-cousin of Dr. Riordan is the head of that intellectual property office which has a judicial or quasi-judicial function over the matter; under this set of circumstances, there can be the possibility of bias or prejudice on the part of that lawyer-cousin. In such an instance, the lawyer-cousin has to inhibit himself from any participation in the intellectual property case. However, the fact that the lawyer-cousin of Dr. Riordan is a partner of Litteral & Finkel and the latter law firm is the retained outside counsel of Riordan Manufacturing does not constitute any conflict of interest nor does it pose some possibility of bias or prejudice as will be contrary to public interest, public policy or public order. Interestingly, this aspect is even moot and academic because the said lawyer-cousin is already dead. Another possible conflict of interest is in a situation where a strained relation arises between Riordan Manufacturing and Litteral & Finkel. ... Riordan is a partner of Litteral & Finkel and the latter law firm is the retained outside counsel of Riordan Manufacturing does not constitute any conflict of interest nor does it pose some possibility of bias or prejudice as will be contrary to public interest, public policy or public order. Interestingly, this aspect is even moot and academic because the said lawyer-cousin is already dead. Another possible conflict of interest is in a situation where a strained relation arises between Riordan Manufacturing and Litteral & Finkel. To illustrate, assuming that Riordan Manufacturing sustained damage because Litteral & Finkel did not well attend to a certain legal responsibility and the former sued the latter for professional misconduct. In this example, there is conflict of interest on the part of the lawyer-cousin, presuming him to be then still alive. He has to either resign from the law firm or take a full and absolute leave until the matter between Riordan Manufacturing and Litteral & Finkel is resolved. Please be it noted, however, that the degree of cousin relationship has to be of close consanguinity (by blood) as will cause a doubt in the mind of an ordinarily prudent man. Here is another instance where conflict of interest can be present. Suppose that Riordan Manufacturing has a pending controversy in court with X Company and the latter approaches Litteral & Finkel to represent it (X Company) in the case. Under this situation, Litteral & Finkel has to refuse accepting the offer for professional engagement because of apparent conflict of interest. (Conflict of Interest. Law Encyclopedia. Answers.com. [internet]) (Conflict of Interest. Rule 4-1.7. Lawyer Regulation. Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. THE FLORIDA BAR. [internet] ) References Conflict of
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
PRACTISE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words
PRACTISE STUDY - Essay Example These activities of Imagine Mental Health stem from its belief that by supporting people with mental health problems it is possible to enable them to do what they want to do, live their lives as they want to live and access those opportunities that are available to all citizens, in short to lead a full and independent life (Imagine). Governmental support for these activities is available through the government social exclusion action plan. This action plan became a reality in September 2006, when the department of health and the department of work and pension initiated it to encourage social activities and employment for those suffering from severe mental health. The social exclusion action plan is envisaged as a programme that will involve the participation of the public sector, the private sector and the voluntary organization. As a voluntary organization with similar objectives as the social exclusion plan, Imagine Mental Health is associated with this effort of the government (Re aching Out: An Action Plan on Social Exclusion). The company operates through the mainstream service by enabling clients who have been socially excluded to reclaim their place back in the mainstream of society. The company is staffed by bridge builders, who have a background, and specialist expertise, in a number of life domains that the clients can choose to access. These domains include employment, volunteering, education and training, sports and leisure, art, cultural communities, faith and spirituality, and homes, families, neighbourhoods and befriending (Life Opportunities). As a social work student undergoing placement with Imagine, I have been given the role of employment, education and training bridge builder and also to support other bridge builders to attain the primary objectives of the clients. I have to be creative and have good networking skills to fulfil my responsibilities. I also support clients as their first contact point at Imagine for assessment and
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2
Conflict - Essay Example The director ought to have communicated to the nurses on the sweeping changes so as to obtain their concerns or contribution. An example of a factor that can cause conflict is the adjustment of work hours or process. Also, Nurses who have vast experience in the department may feel isolated or unappreciated and hence the hostility. Experience is important when making changes to treatment plans, and career development aspects such as promotion. Despite the imminent threat of conflict, nurse leaders can devise methods to avert it. Conflict can be managed through compromise (American Sentinel University, 2011). A nurse leader ought to analyze the motive and the impact of such reorganization. If the actions consider the interest of patients and the nurses, then a compromise can be reached in which all nurses adapt to the changes. If the changes violate the interest of nurses, a nurse leader can take a collaborative approach and engage the director in finding common ground. In this approach, the director ought to cede ground on issues that violate the interest of nurses, and nurses to allow several vital changes in the department. American Sentinel University. (2011, July 27). The Five Styles of Managing Conflict Resolution for Nursing. Retrieved June 30, 2015, from
Events During the Cold War Essay Example for Free
Events During the Cold War Essay The Cold War was a very terrible war that started in 1945 between the United States and the Soviet Union and lasted 45 years. The Cold War got its name because both sides were too afraid to fight each other directly. They used words against each other to make the enemy look dumb and foolish. They fought through many other wars, too afraid of nuclear attacks directly hitting them. These wars caused great devastation across the globe. This war had started because the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism across the world, but America being a democracy, did not want that. The first ten years were somewhat interesting. On February 4 1945, there was a Yalta Conference, a wartime meeting between the heads of government from the United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union, and the Cold War began. Right after that, Germany surrendered to the Red Army in Berlin. On August 6, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and killed 80,000 people. Then three days after, the United States dropped another bomb on Nagasaki that killed 70,000. Shortly after that, the Japanese surrendered and that was the end of World War II. Winston Churchill had issued warnings about the Soviets in 1946 and first used the term iron curtain. This term was used to describe how the Soviets had wanted power. 1946 was also the year Josef Stalin made a very hostile speech, claiming communism and capitalism couldnt live in peace. In June of 1947, the Marshall Plan was announced. This plan set a precedent for helping countries combat poverty, disease and malnutrition. That same year, the Rio Pact was established. This was a security zone around the hemisphere with the 19 Latin American countries. Between June 1948 and September 1949, Britain and America were struggling to keep West Berlin supplied through aircraft, since the Soviet government closed all ground traffic. That year, they made 277,000 flights to carry products. In March of 1948, Truman started a Loyalty Program which was made to catch Cold War spies. Then, in that same year the Brussels Pact was made to protect Europe from communism. In 1949, China became a communist country because Mao Zedong took over. He then established the Peoples Republic of China. In June of 1950, the Korean War started and Stalin supported North Korea and gave them Soviet weapons to invade South Korea. The war in Korea ended two years later, though. In 1951 the Federal Defense Administration was established which was a program that spread information about communism and the threat of attacks. March 1954 was when KGB (Committee for State Security) was established. KGB was the national security of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In May of 1955 the Warsaw Pact was established. This pact was a mutual defense treaty between the eight communist states of Eastern Europe during the Cold War. During these ten years, there were a few treaties and some different experimental things done, also some different groups were made just for this one huge war. The next 10 years (1956-65) didnt have as many exciting things happen. In 1956, there was a rebellion in Communist Hungary. Then after that in 1957, Sputnik was launched into space and Laika died in space. In 1958, Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War, made the Soviet troops withdrawal from Berlin. Khrushchev then visited the United States in 1959 which caused the Kitchen Debate. This was a debate between Nixon and Khrushchev at the opening of the American National Exhibition. In 1960, the Soviets revealed that there had been a United States plane shot down over Soviet territory. This year was also the year John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. Cuba aligns itself with the Soviet Union and their policies that same year. The Bay of Pigs invasion happened in 1961, this invasion was by CIA trained exiles of Cuba into southern Cuba to try to overthrow the government, but it was unsuccessful. In 1962 the United States becomes more involved in the Vietnam War to keep communist takeover of South Vietnam as a strategy of containment. That was the same year of the Cuban missile crisis between the Soviet Union and Cuba and the United States, it lasted thirteen days. November of 1963 was a sad month because President Kennedy was assassinated, probably because of a conspiracy. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was in 1964 which was a confrontation between North Vietnam and the United States. In 1965 some United States marines were sent to the Dominican Republic to fight Communism. These 10 years were not very exciting but there were a few important events that changed the United States. From 1966 to 1975, not much happened. It was kind of a dull period compared to the last twenty years. In 1967 the United Stated Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara admitted that the United States bombing raids had failed to meet their objectives. Richard Nixon was elected for president and North Korea captured U.S.S. Pueblo the year after. The USS Pueblo was a United States spy ship and it is still currently being held captive by Korea, though it is a museum now. Then, in 1969 Apollo 11 landed on the moon which had Neil Armstrong in it. He was the first person to step on the moon and it was a great accomplishment in US history. In 1970 Nixon spread the Vietnam War to Cambodia. The Pentagon papers were signed the year after in 1971. These papers were a United States history of its involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1972 not only did Nixon visit China, but SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Talk) was signed; this was between the two Cold War superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union on the issue of armament control. The United States supported coup overthrew the Chilean government in 1973. The year after that, Nixon resigned but since then he has been the only president to ever resign. In 1975 North Vietnam defeated South Vietnam who then fell into communism. I do not know why these ten years were so boring, but they were even though they ended in another country falling into communism. The next ten years from 1976 to 1985 were even duller than the ones before. It started off with the Soviet Union and Cuba forcing Angola to become a communist state. In 1979, SALT II was signed. This time it was just an experimental negotiation about curtailing the manufacturing of nuclear weapons. The same year SALT II was signed, the Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan and the United States and China established diplomatic relations. In 1980, Polish shipyard workers started a strike and the Solidarity Union was formed, which was the first non-communist trade union in Warsaw Pact territory, and the strike leader, Lech Walesa, was elected as the head of the Solidarity Union. Three years later, President Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative. That initiative was created to protect the United States from nuclear missile attacks. In that same year, United States troops invaded and overthrew the regime in Grenada and ended in a victory. Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union and initiated a campaign of increased openness and transparency in government institutions called glasnost and a political movement within the Soviet Union called perestroika in 1985. As you can see, not much happened during these ten years but there were still some interesting things that happened. The last five years were when quite a few countries became independent after so long. In 1986 President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles from Europe. Then in the year after that, Reagan and Gorbachev agree to remove all medium and short-range nuclear missiles. This meant that the war was coming to a close and things were becoming less violent. The Soviet groups with drawled from Afghanistan in 1989. Poland and Hungary both become independent and communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania, the Soviet empire declined in this year as well. Russia got a new president; Boris Yeltsin, in 1990 also. Another country became independent a year later, Lithuania. Germany also became reunited during this year. In 1991, the Warsaw Pact ended which meant the Cold War was over and the Soviet Union was done for, the end of it all. The Cold War was something terrible that happened between the United States and the Soviet Union for a stupid reason. It caused a lot of problems and different wars throughout the world just because they were too afraid to fight face to face but, it did not cause a huge amount of deaths. The Cold War was not really the kind of war that killed people; it was more of a war on which country could develop faster. This war could have been easily prevented but I guess some things just have to happen. A 45 year war for only one thing. Power. Works Cited Cold War. enotes. n.d. Web. 20 May, 2012. Cold War Timeline. History Timelines. n.d. Web. 20 May, 2012. Pillai, Prabhakar Causes and Effects of the Cold War. Buzzle. n.d. 21 May, 2012. Timeline of the Cold War. Think Quest. n.d. Web. 20 May 2012. Wikipedia.org.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Students Perception Toward The Learning Of Ict Education Essay
Students Perception Toward The Learning Of Ict Education Essay The undersigned have examined the thesis entitled A comparison of students perception and satisfaction toward the learning of ICT employing blended learning and traditional face-to-face instruction at Satit Bilingual School of Rangsit University. presented by CARLOS J. VEGA, a candidate for the degree of Master of Science in eLearning Methodology and hereby certify that it is worthy of acceptance. Teachers all over the world design develop and implement innovative teaching methods in order to capture students interests. Sometimes these initiatives are also undertaken to address subject related issues. The author has encountered many problems in the teaching of ICT in the last 5 years. In this research, Blended Learning was implemented in primary school ICT lessons to measure students perception towards this approach. We have seen an increase in many countries on the use of ICT in schools. It seems schools are moving away from blackboards, a projector and a television to an increase on the use of the internet, interactive boards and e-learning. In England, for example, the government feels that it is critical that all schools are able to expand the use of ICT, so it is not only those who have access to these technologies the ones who benefit (DfEE 2001). Furthermore, very little studies have been done at the Primary School level as to the perception of students towards the use of e-learning and also the use of blended learning to teach the subject of ICT. This research is a way to demonstrate whether or not the use of Blended Learning in the teaching of ICT has any effect in the perception of Primary School students when learning the subject of ICT. Research Questions Is there a statistical difference between Thai primary school students perception towards the use of blended learning and the use of face to face instruction in ICT class? What is the students perception towards learning ICT using both traditional face to face and blended learning methods? Importance of the Study This research aims to explore the Primary school students perception towards learning an ICT course using Blended Learning vs Face to Face learning and examines the qualitative data gathered after the experiment. This type of research would be a pioneering research project at Satit Bilingual School of Rangsit University (SBS), Thailand for studying the efficiency and effectiveness of the Blended Learning system. This research compares Blended Learning with traditional face to face teaching in ICT class. The results of this study will be used to develop more effective Blended Learning systems. There is a trend in education to use technology as a means to enhance or, sometimes, teach entire courses fully online or as integration in the classroom. Some problems in a traditional classroom setting can be, lack of teacher attention, boredom, outdated knowledge, and inappropriateness for a diverse population (Gardiner, 1997; Hara Kling, 1999). Researchers support concepts such as active learning, student-centered principles, effective use of technology, and collaborative learning (American Psychological Association, 1997; Bonk and Kim, 1998). There are expectations that technology and e-learning will transform education. The demand for the use of technology in education and e-learning has affected developing countries in South East Asia, such as Thailand. Therefore, it is important for educators to explore students attitudes towards and experience of new technology such as Blended Learning. The authors problems stem from the teaching of ICT and the complexity of keeping students attention and interest while teaching two skills at the same time. The challenge with teaching ICT lies in that there are cognitive as well as psychomotor skills that need to be learned at the same time. It proves almost impossible to do both and keep the learners attention on the task. The authors experience is that in order to do both the lesson has to be constantly interrupted because it is too difficult for the students to remember all things taught, and also there are different levels of skills in the same classroom and it proves almost impossible to go at a pace that satisfies all students. There will always be ones that can keep up, ones that are slow and ones that do not understand at all. Assumption Blended Learning is a way to give students an opportunity to practice and learn the skills taught at the same time and at their own pace. Definition of Terms What is e-learning? ELearning is learning at all levels, be it formal or informal, that uses a network, wsuch as a intranet (LAN), WAN or the Internet, for the delivery of courses and learning. So, what is elearning? Very simply, elearning is utilizing technology to increase the effectiveness and accessibility of learning. This may include CD ROMs, or a discussion thread to enrich a regular classroom, or a course delivered completely online. All other terms related to learning are subsets of elearning. What is blended learning? Another term that is gaining currency is blended learning. This refers to learning models that combine traditional classroom practice with e-learning solutions. For example, students in a traditional class can be assigned both print-based and online materials, have online mentoring sessions with their teacher through chat, and are subscribed to a class email list. Or a Web-based training course can be enhanced by periodic face-to-face instruction. Blending was prompted by the recognition that not all learning is best achieved in an electronically-mediated environment, particularly one that dispenses with a live instructor altogether. Instead, consideration must be given to the subject matter, the learning objectives and outcomes, the characteristics of the learners, and the learning context in order to arrive at the optimum mix of instructional and delivery methods. What is Face to Face instruction? Face to face instruction refers to any learning where the instructor and the student are in the same classroom at the same time in a traditional classroom setting. The definition of traditional education varies greatly with geography and by historical period. The chief business of traditional education is to transmit to a next generation those skills, facts, and standards of moral and social conduct that adults deem to be necessary for the next generations material and social success (Dewey, 1938). As beneficiaries of this scheme, which educational progressivist John Dewey described as being imposed from above and from outside, the students are expected to docilely and obediently receive and believe these fixed answers. Teachers are the instruments by which this knowledge is communicated and these standards of behavior are enforced (Dewey, 1938). Historically, the primary educational technique of traditional education was simple oral recitation (Beck, 2009). In a typical approach, students sat quietly at their places and listened to one individual after another recited his or her lesson, until each had been called upon. The teachers primary activity was assigning and listening to these recitations; students studied at home. A test might be given at the end of a unit, and the process, which was called assignment-study-recitation-test, was repeated. In addition to its overemphasis on verbal answers, reliance on rote memorization (mindless memorization with no effort at understanding the meaning), and disconnected, unrelated assignments, it was also an extremely inefficient use of students and teachers time. It also insisted that all students be taught the same materials at the same point; students that did not learn quickly enough failed, rather than being allowed to succeed at their natural speeds. This approach, which had bee n imported from Europe, dominated American education until the end of the 19th century, when the reform movement imported progressive education techniques from Europe (Beck, 2009). CHAPTER II Hypothesis Students will have a positive attitude and have a preference towards the use of Blended Learning instead of face to face learning in the teaching of ICT. Background and Literature Review The increase in the use of technology has impacted our everyday lives and developing countries, such as Thailand, are also seeing an increase in the demand for use of technologies. The demand for the use of eLearning has increased. According to IDC Research, an increase of 30 percent in yearly spending on eLearning was expected by 2008, which is an increase from 14 billion dollars in 2004 (SmartPros, 2005). In Thailand, there is a target from the government to boost ICT literacy and computer use. A Smarter Thailand with Smarter People and a Smarter Government this is the main goal of Thailands second Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plan for 2009-2013, drafted by the National Electronic and Computer Technology Center. The initiative from the ICT Ministry in Thailand to encourage 50 percent of the population over the age of 15 to be ICT literate and be able to use computers in their everyday lives and enable to country to become a major competitor in the global market. According to Assoc Prof Dr Thanomporn Laohajaratsang, director of Chiang Mai Universitys Information Technology Service Centre, Progress in the use of ICT in education has been very slow and uneven. Its utilization lacks continuity in terms of government support, budget and professional development. (TAN, L. C., et al., 2009). In 1984, computers were introduced to Thailand in the study of mathematics. Studies show that the achievements of Thai students in the core subjects at both primary (prathom) and secondary (mathayom) schools were below the international averages. The findings prompted several education reforms, with ICT seen as an innovative intervention to help develop a knowledge-based society. (TAN, L. C., et al., 2009). The first ICT Master Plan in 2002 and the current ICT Master Plan are seen as instruments for providing vision and strategies for the use of learning technologies to improve the quality of education in the country. According to the vice-president of the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching and Technology Dr Pornpun Waitayangkoon, the government in Thailand does not provide enough funds to meet the ICT needs. Also, the Ministry of Educations Model ICT Schools project aims to make student-centered learning a reality and the Cyber University project tries to provide more opportunities for distance higher education. To support these efforts, more online teaching and learning resources are encouraged and increased. A recent sample survey suggested the following issues for Thai educational professionals to contemplate (Unesco, 2003): Much of the current use of ICT in the classroom still focuses on the drill and practice type of learning. There would appear to be an inadequate basic infrastructure. Lack of technical support. Integration of ICT in the teaching of subjects has been weak. The absence of policies and management support. There is also a lack of research concerning the use of Blended Learning in primary school. Most research regarding online or Blended Learning focus on tertiary education institutions. Some research has been done in the teaching of various subjects with secondary school students. An example of this would be the development and research of the Getsmart website (Chandra et al., 2009). The study showed that the website enabled them to undertake learning activities at their own pace and convenience. The results of this study were positive towards the used of Blended Learning in a high school environment. However, this research represents the reason for further research. The students in this study were in high school and it focused on junior science and physics. This type of research is typical of the research found. There is no evidence to show if the use of Blended Learning is useful in a primary school environment and how it can be used in the teaching of the subject of ICT. Hybrid or blended learning environments seem to be less controversial than pure e-learning courses and less likely to be resisted by academic staff in the tertiary sector (Young, 2002; Bonk, Kim and Zeng, 2006). There is still a believe that a teacher relating to a student face to face is the simplest and least expensive way for a teacher to establish a relationship with the student (Fungaroli-Sargent, 2000). The pure e-learning proponents may now acknowledge the merits of a blended approach as the pure e-learning model may still be viewed with some skepticism. This move towards Blended Learning has happened quietly with most tertiary institutions adopting a blended approach to eLearning without great publicity. A study conducted in Taiwanese schools find that there was a direct correlation between student satisfaction in the face to face or real world classroom and enjoyment of the web-based learning, which implies that the right mix or blending can be satisfying to students (She an d Fisher, 2003). There is a need for a teacher present in the classroom to not only teach but entertain, convey enthusiasm, expertise, experience and context (Bersin, 2004), things that may be difficult to convey in a pure eLearning environment. Students appear to appreciate the face to face lectures by the teacher when they occur less frequently within a blended learning environment. This shows that a face to face environment is not necessarily the best or the standard by which everything should be measured. Depending on the course, the mix of face to face and online may differ. Allowing the teacher full control over their courses is important to allow the teacher to decide what is that best mix for his/her particular course (Young, 2002). Review of literature on online learning show that the research is mostly focused on the outcomes of learning rather than the process of learning (Cumming et al., 2002; Gudzial and Turn, 2000; Hara and Kling, 1999; Hendrinks and Maor, 2003). These types of research then focus, primarily, on quantitative data that measures scores and learning outcomes rather than how the learner interprets or views his learning experience. The author, therefore, is taking a qualitative approach to this research to observe and test a Blended Learning environment in a primary school setting to shed light on perception and experience of the blended learning and find an optimal mix for the learning of ICT. Blended Learning is a type of approach to eLearning. ELearning is the delivery of any learning by electronic means. E-learning involves the use of a computer or electronic device (e.g. a mobile phone) in some way to provide training, educational or learning material. (Stockley 2003). There are different types of eLearning and these can be categorized by the students degree of interactivity, students time of presence and blending approach to name a few. For the purposes of this research, the author will take a blending approach to eLearning, meaning that it blends the approach using face to face as well as online learning. According to a report published by the Sloan Consortium entitled Blending In: The Extent and Promise of Blended Education in the United States, Blended Learning is divided into four types: Table 1: Types of Blended Learning (Sloan-C, 2007) Proportion of Content Delivered Online Type of Course Description 0% Traditional Content delivered either orally or written with no technology used. 1 to 29% Web Facilitated Essentially a face to face course that uses technology, such as a webpage, to post a syllabus or an assignment. 30 to 79% Blended Learning/Hybrid It blends face to face and online instruction. A substantial proportion is delivered through electronic means. 80% to 100% Online Most or all of the content is delivered online with little or no face to face meetings. A blended learning approach can combine face-to-face instruction with computer-mediated instruction. It also applies science or IT activities with the assistance of educational technologies using computer, cellular or iPhones, Satellite television channels, videoconferencing and other emerging electronic media. Learners and teachers work together to improve the quality of learning and teaching, the ultimate aim of blended learning being to provide realistic practical opportunities for learners and teachers to make learning independent, useful, sustainable and ever growing (Graham, 2005). Conceptual Framework This research attempts to find if a students learning experience in ICT is affected by the use of face to face vs blended learning in the teaching of ICT. Independent variables: Blended learning instruction in ICT class. Face to Face learning instruction in ICT class. Dependent variables: Students perception towards the use of blended learning in ICT. Students perception towards the use of face to face instruction in ICT. Students perception towards the learning experience in ICT. The following is a schematic representation of the variables. The aim is to investigate students perception of their learning in ICT using two different delivery methods, Face to Face instruction and Blended Learning. Then, gather qualitative data to determine if the method of delivery influences their perception of the learning experience in ICT class. Figure 1: Conceptual Framework underlying the relationship between variables. Perception of the learning experience in ICT class Perception of the learning experience using blended learning in ICT class Blended Learning instruction in ICT. Perception of the learning experience using face to face learning in ICT class Face to face instruction in ICT. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY CHAPTER IV RESULTS CHAPTER V CONCLUSION REFERENCES American Psychological Association (1997). Learner-centered psychological principles: A framework for school redesign and reform. http://www.apa.org/ed/lcp.html 2/9/2003. Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) 2001 Curriculum Online a consultation paper. DfEE, London Beck, Robert H. (2009). The Three Rs Plus: What Todays Schools are Trying to Do and Why. U of Minnesota Press. pp. 3-6. Bersin, J. (2004) The blended learning book: Best practices, proven methodologies, and lessons learned, Pfeiffer, San Francisco. Bonk, C., Kim, K. J., and Zeng, T. (2006) Future directions of blended learning in higher education and workplace learning settings. In C. Bonk and C. Graham, The handbook of blended learning: Global perspectives local designs. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 550-567. Cummings, J. A., Bonk, C. J. and Jacobs, F. R. (2002). Twenty-first century college syllabi: Options for online communication and interactivity. The Internet and Higher Education, 5 (1), 1-19. Dewey, John (1938). Experience and education. Kappa Delta Pi. pp. 1-5. Fungaroli Sargent, C. (2000) Traditional degrees for non-traditional students: How to earn a top diploma from Americas great colleges at any age, Farrar, Straus Giroux, New York. Gardiner, L. F. (1997). Producing dramatic increase in student learning: Can we do it? National Teaching and Learning Forum, 6 (2), 8-10. Graham, C. R. (2005). Blended learning systems: Definition, current trends, and future directions.. in Bonk, C. J.; Graham, C. R.. Handbook of blended learning: Global perspectives, local designs. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. pp. 3-21. Gudzial, M., and Turns, J. (2000). Effective discussion through a computer-mediated anchored forum. The Journal of Learning Science, 9 (4), 437-69. Gunawardena, C. N., Lowe, C.A., and Anderson, T. (1997). Analysis of an online global debate and the development of an interaction analysis model for examining social construction of knowledge in computer conferencing. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 17 (4), 397-431. Hara, N., and Kling, R. (1999). Students Frustrations with Web-Based Distance Education Courses. http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue4_12/hara/index.html 1/10/2003. Hara, N., Bonk, C. J., and Angeli, C. (2000). Content analysis of online discussion in an applied educational psychology course. Instructional Science, 28 (2), 115-52. Hendriks, V., and Maor, D. (2003). Qualitative methods in evaluating the quality of online learning. World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunication. http://dll.aace.org/13307 7/9/2003 Ramage, T.. (2001). The No Significant Difference Phenomenon: A Literature Review. e-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology . 5 (1) She, H. C. and Fisher, D. (2003) Web-based e-learning environments in Taiwan: The impact of the online science flash program on students learning, In M.S. Khine D. Fisher, Technology-rich learning environments: A future perspective, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 343-365. SmartPros Editorial Staff. (7 January 2005 ). E-learning Demand to Double in 2005. Available: http://accounting.smartpros.com/x46477.xml. Last accessed 17 February 2010. TAN, L. C., MANOWALAILAO, R. (2009 , July 28). Bangkok Post. A smarter Thailand through ICT , p. 1. Unesco, (2003). Strengthening ICT in Schools and SchoolNet Project in the ASEAN Setting,Experts Meeting for Documenting Experiences in the Use of ICT in Education and SchoolNet Operations: 7-8 July 2003. University of Minesota, Duluth. (11 February 2010). Web Design Glossary. Available: http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/support/Training/Online/webdesign/glossary/i.html. Last accessed 17 February 2010. Young, J. R. (2002) Hybrid teaching seeks to end the divide between traditional and online instruction, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 48, 28, A33-A34. Appendix A Type or paste your appendices here. Appendices are a place to organize and include all of the extra material that is important to your research work but that is too detailed for the main text. Examples can include: specific analytical methods, computer code, spreadsheets of data, details of statistical analyses, etc. But, these materials do not speak for themselves. There should be a reference to these materials from the main chapters (complete details included in Appendix A) and there should be some text at the beginning of each appendix to briefly explain what the information is and means that is included in that appendix.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Theme of Courage in To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Essay
Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, courage is seen as a major theme. Not only in Atticus' fight for the freedom of Tom Robinson, but also in Mrs. Dubose's fight to die free of her morphine addiction. Atticus proves that courage is a moral act by taking on Tom Robinson?s case. Atticus is intelligent enough to know the battle is already lost, but still he remains the man he says he is, and fights anyway. He fights to the best of his ability, and fights to the end. This is the same case with Mrs. Dubose and her fight to die free of her drug problem. She is certain that she will die, but she is determined to die free of morphine ? even if it means living her last days in pain. "Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for!" (pg 108) When Mrs. Dubose spoke badly abou...
Friday, October 11, 2019
Essay --
The crude extract was retrieved by homogenizing the bovine muscle tissue. The total enzyme in the muscle tissue can be illustrated through the total activity present in the crude extract, which was 5500 Â ± 200 units. Next the 40% ammonium sulfate step was performed. Ammonium sulfate was slowly added to a beaker that contained the crude extract until a 40% saturation level was reached. After centrifugation the pellet (which contained low soluble proteins and other cellular debris) was discarded and the supernatant was kept. The total protein was 124 Â ± 6 mg and the specific activity was 4500 Â ± 300 units. This resulted in a specific activity of 36 Â ± 4 units/mg. The yield was calculated to be 82 Â ± 9% and the purification factor was 1.4 Â ± 0.3. There was not much of an increase in the purity, but there was a decrease in the total protein and the specific activity as compared to the crude extract which suggests that that unwanted protein was removed during this purification step. Performing the 60% ammonium sulfate step further purified the 40% supernatant. The ammonium sulfate and was added to the 40% supernatant until a 60% saturation level was reached. This was then centrifuged, but this time the pellet was kept while the supernatant (which contained material such as nucleic acids and sugars) was discarded. The total protein recovered was 56.4 Â ± 0.4 mg and the total activity was 4140 Â ± 50 units. This produced a specific activity of 73 Â ± 1 units/mg. The yield was calculated to be 76 Â ± 4% and the purification factor was 2.8 Â ± 0.3. Each of these steps was consistent with the trends present in the theoretical values data because the purity increased. This indicates that the unwanted material was removed so that the 60% pellet can be us... ...olecular weight). By using the protein concentration and enzyme concentration of E10 and E11 the specific activity values can be calculated. The specific activity of E10 is 497.68 units/mg and E11 is 516.6 units/mg. The m form is assumed to have a lower binding affinity (lower Km) so this would elute out first thus we can conclude that the m form is present in the E10 fraction and the h form is present in the E11 fraction. The isozymes are assumed to have the same molecular weight but varying charge strength. With this information an ion exchange column can be performed in order to help separate the isozymes. For an anion exchange column the beads would be positive. By making one of the isozymes more negative it would bind to the beads while the other isozyme would elute out. A gel column can then be performed to confirm the presence of different isozymes.
Western Political thought: Machiavelli
Nicollo Machiavelli is one of the political thinkers that have contributed immensely to the development of the political thought. However, his thoughts and principles were a radical departure from those of his contemporaries. One of the political thoughts that were different from that of the past thinkers was on the morality of power. According to him morals cannot be used to judge the legitimate and illegitimate application of power. He claims that power and authority are equal variables and anyone that has power gains the right to give commands. He claimed that being good does not give one a moral authority and goodness does not give power to anyone. This view conflicts with the moralistic political theory that associated morality with authority (Nelson, 1995). Machiavelli criticizes the moralistic concept of authority saying that it does not add any value to power. The other political thought that was distant from the past thinkers was on the subject of law and force. Machiavelli first agreed with the past thinkers saying that good laws are important for an orderly political system. However he claimed that good people do not like following laws which means that for the good laws to work, there must be coercion. He wanted to imply that good laws have their legitimacy founded on the use of force. This thought appeared to be cruel, but in reality, laws cannot be legitimate if they are not accompanied by coercive force (Sydney, 2005). The last extreme thought by Machiavelli was on his treatment of politics. In opposition to the definition of the past thinkers who saw politics pragmatically. Machiavelli dismissed politics and an entity that could only be seen from the supremacy of powers that are coercive. The authority in politics according to him cannot exist independently and politics is all about gaining supremacy for personal interests (Nelson, 1995). Though Machiavellian political thoughts were different from those of the past thinkers, modern political theory is based on Machiavellian principles and thoughts. His eccentric thoughts have provided a foundation for the modern political theory.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Chapter 31 The Third Task
â€Å"Dumbledore reckons You-Know-Who's getting stronger again as well?†Ron whispered. Everything Harry had seen in the Pensieve, nearly everything Dumbledore had told and shown him afterward, he had now shared with Ron and Hermione – and, of course, with Sirius, to whom Harry had sent an owl the moment he had left Dumbledore's office. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat up late in the common room once again that night, talking it all over until Harry's mind was reeling, until he understood what Dumbledore had meant about a head becoming so full of thoughts that it would have been a relief to siphon them off. Ron stared into the common room fire. Harry thought he saw Ron shiver slightly, even though the evening was warm. â€Å"And he trusts Snape?†Ron said. â€Å"He really trusts Snape, even though he knows he was a Death Eater?†â€Å"Yes,†said Harry. Hermione had not spoken for ten minutes. She was sitting with her forehead in her hands, staring at her knees. Harry thought she too looked as though she could have done with a Pensieve. â€Å"Rita Skeeter,†she muttered finally. â€Å"How can you be worrying about her now?†said Ron, in utter disbelief. â€Å"I'm not worrying about her,†Hermione said to her knees. â€Å"I'm just thinking†¦remember what she said to me in the Three Broomsticks? ‘I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl. ‘ This is what she meant, isn't it? She reported his trial, she knew he'd passed information to the Death Eaters. And Winky too, remember†¦'Ludo Bagman's a bad wizard.' Mr. Crouch would have been furious he got off, he would have talked about it at home.†â€Å"Yeah, but Bagman didn't pass information on purpose, did he?†Hermione shrugged. â€Å"And Fudge reckons Madame Maxime attacked Crouch?†Ron said, turning back to Harry. â€Å"Yeah,†said Harry, â€Å"but he's only saying that because Crouch disappeared near the Beauxbatons carriage.†â€Å"We never thought of her, did we?†said Ron slowly. â€Å"Mind you, she's definitely got giant blood, and she doesn't want to admit it-â€Å" â€Å"Of course she doesn't,†said Hermione sharply, looking up. â€Å"Look what happened to Hagrid when Rita found out about his mother. Look at Fudge, jumping to conclusions about her, just because she's part giant. Who needs that sort of prejudice? I'd probably say I had big bones if I knew that's what I'd get for telling the truth.†Hermione looked at her watch. â€Å"We haven't done any practicing!†she said, looking shocked. â€Å"We were going to do the Impediment Curse! We'll have to really get down to it tomorrow! Come on. Harry, you need to get some sleep.†Harry and Ron went slowly upstairs to their dormitory. As Harry pulled on his pajamas, he looked over at Neville's bed. True to his word to Dumbledore, he had not told Ron and Hermione about Neville's parents. As Harry took off his glasses and climbed into his four-poster, he imagined how it must feel to have parents still living but unable to recognize you. He often got sympathy from strangers for being an orphan, but as he listened to Neville's snores, he thought that Neville deserved it more than he did. Lying in the darkness, Harry felt a rush of anger and hate toward the people who had tortured Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom†¦.He remembered the jeers of the crowd as Crouch's son and his companions had been dragged from the court by the dementors†¦.He understood how they had felt†¦.Then he remembered the milk-white face of the screaming boy and realized with a jolt that he had died a year later†¦. It was Voldemort, Harry thought, staring up at the canopy of his bed in the darkness, it all came back to Voldemort†¦.He was the one who had torn these families apart, who had ruined all these lives†¦. Ron and Hermione were supposed to be studying for their exams, which would finish on the day of the third task, but they were putting most of their efforts into helping Harry prepare. â€Å"Don't worry about it,†Hermione said shortly when Harry pointed this out to them and said he didn't mind practicing on his own for a while, â€Å"at least we'll get top marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts. We'd never have found out about all these hexes in class.†â€Å"Good training for when we're all Aurors,†said Ron excitedly, attempting the Impediment Curse on a wasp that had buzzed into the room and making it stop dead in midair. The mood in the castle as they entered June became excited and tense again. Everyone was looking forward to the third task, which would take place a week before the end of term. Harry was practicing hexes at every available moment. He felt more confident about this task than either of the others. Difficult and dangerous though it would undoubtedly be, Moody was right: Harry had managed to find his way past monstrous creatures and enchanted barriers before now, and this time he had some notice, some chance to prepare himself for what lay ahead. Tired of walking in on Harry, Hermione, and Ron all over the school. Professor McGonagall had given them permission to use the empty Transfiguration classroom at lunchtimes. Harry had soon mastered the Impediment Curse, a spell to slow down and obstruct attackers; the Reductor Curse, which would enable him to blast solid objects out of his way; and the Four-Point Spell, a useful discovery of Hermione's that would make his wand point due north, therefore enabling him to check whether he was going in the right direction within the maze. He was still having trouble with the Shield Charm, though. This was supposed to cast a temporary, invisible wall around himself that deflected minor curses; Hermione managed to shatter it with a well-placed Jelly-Legs Jinx, and Harry wobbled around the room for ten minutes afterward before she had looked up the counter-jinx. â€Å"You're still doing really well, though,†Hermione said encouragingly, looking down her list and crossing off those spells they had already learned. â€Å"Some of these are bound to come in handy.†â€Å"Come and look at this,†said Ron, who was standing by the window. He was staring down onto the grounds. â€Å"What's Malfoy doing?†Harry and Hermione went to see. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing in the shadow of a tree below. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be keeping a lookout; both were smirking. Malfoy was holding his hand up to his mouth and speaking into it. â€Å"He looks like he's using a walkie-talkie,†said Harry curiously. â€Å"He can't be,†said Hermione, â€Å"I've told you, those sorts of things don't work around Hogwarts. Come on, Harry,†she added briskly, turning away from the window and moving back into the middle of the room, â€Å"let's try that Shield Charm again.†Sirius was sending daily owls now. Like Hermione, he seemed to want to concentrate on getting Harry through the last task before they concerned themselves with anything else. He reminded Harry in every letter that whatever might be going on outside the walls of Hogwarts was not Harry's responsibility, nor was it within his power to influence it. If Voldemort is really getting stronger again, he wrote, my priority is to ensure your safety. He cannot hope to lay hands on you while you are under Dumbledore's protection, but all the same, take no risks: Concentrate on getting through that maze safely, and then we can turn our attention to other matters. Harry's nerves mounted as June the twenty-fourth drew closer, but they were not as bad as those he had felt before the first and second tasks. For one thing, he was confident that, this time, he had done everything in his power to prepare for the task. For another, this was the final hurdle, and however well or badly he did, the tournament would at last be over, which would be an enormous relief. Breakfast was a very noisy affair at the Gryffindor table on the morning of the third task. The post owls appeared, bringing Harry a good-luck card from Sirius. It was only a piece of parchment, folded over and bearing a muddy paw print on its front, but Harry appreciated it all the same. A screech owl arrived for Hermione, carrying her morning copy of the Daily Prophet as usual. She unfolded the paper, glanced at the front page, and spat out a mouthful of pumpkin juice all over it. â€Å"What?†said Harry and Ron together, staring at her. â€Å"Nothing,†said Hermione quickly, trying to shove the paper out of sight, but Ron grabbed it. He stared at the headline and said, â€Å"No way. Not today. That old cow.†â€Å"What?†said Harry. â€Å"Rita Skeeter again?†â€Å"No,†said Ron, and just like Hermione, he attempted to push the paper out of sight. â€Å"It's about me, isn't it?†said Harry. â€Å"No,†said Ron, in an entirely unconvincing tone. But before Harry could demand to see the paper. Draco Malfoy shouted across the Great Hall from the Slytherin table. â€Å"Hey, Potter! Potter! How's your head? You feeling all right? Sure you're not going to go berserk on us?†Malfoy was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet too. Slytherins up and down the table were sniggering, twisting in their seats to see Harry's reaction. â€Å"Let me see it,†Harry said to Ron. â€Å"Give it here.†Very reluctantly, Ron handed over the newspaper. Harry turned it over and found himself staring at his own picture, beneath the banner headline: â€Å"HARRY POTTER†â€Å"DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS†The boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harry Potter's strange behavior, which casts doubts upon his suitability to compete in a demanding competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Hogwarts School. Potter, the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, regularly collapses at school, and is often heard to complain of pain in the scar on his forehead (relic of the curse with which You-Know-Who attempted to kill him). On Monday last, midway through a Divination lesson, your Daily Prophet reporter witnessed Potter storming from the class, claiming that his scar was hurting too badly to continue studying. It is possible, say top experts at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, that Potters brain was affected by the attack inflicted upon him by You-Know-Who, a nd that his insistence that the scar is still hurting is an expression of his deep-seated confusion. â€Å"He might even be pretending,†said one specialist. â€Å"This could be a plea for attention.†The Daily Prophet, however, has unearthed worrying facts about Harry Potter that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, has carefully concealed from the wizarding public. â€Å"Potter can speak Parseltongue,†reveals Draco Malfoy, a Hogwarts fourth year. â€Å"There were a lot of attacks on students a couple of years ago, and most people thought Potter was behind them after they saw him lose his temper at a dueling club and set a snake on another boy. It was all hushed up, though. But he's made friends with werewolves and giants too. We think he'd do anything for a bit of power.†Parseltongue, the ability to converse with snakes, has long been considered a Dark Art. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our times is none other than You-Know-Who himself. A member of the Dark Force Defense League, who wished to remain unnamed, stated that he would regard any wizard who could speak Parseltongue â€Å"as worthy of investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anybody who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic, and are historically associated with evildoers.†Similarly, â€Å"anyone who seeks out the company of such vicious creatures as werewolves and giants would appear to have a fondness for violence.†Albus Dumbledore should surely consider whether a boy such as this should be allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Some fear that Potter might resort to the Dark Arts in his desperation to win the tournament, the third task of which takes place this evening. â€Å"Gone off me a bit, hasn't she?†said Harry lightly, folding up the paper. Over at the Slytherin table, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were laughing at him, tapping their heads with their fingers, pulling grotesquely mad faces, and waggling their tongues like snakes. â€Å"How did she know your scar hurt in Divination?†Ron said. â€Å"There's no way she was there, there's no way she could've heard -â€Å" â€Å"The window was open,†said Harry. â€Å"I opened it to breathe.†â€Å"You were at the top of North Tower!†Hermione said. â€Å"Your voice couldn't have carried all the way down to the grounds!†â€Å"Well, you're the one who's supposed to be researching magical methods of bugging!†said Harry. â€Å"You tell me how she did it!†â€Å"I've been trying!†said Hermione. â€Å"But I†¦but†¦Ã¢â‚¬ An odd, dreamy expression suddenly came over Hermione's face. She slowly raised a hand and ran her fingers through her hair. â€Å"Are you all right?†said Ron, frowning at her. â€Å"Yes,†said Hermione breathlessly. She ran her fingers through her hair again, and then held her hand up to her mouth, as though speaking into an invisible walkie-talkie. Harry and Ron stared at each other. â€Å"I've had an idea,†Hermione said, gazing into space. â€Å"I think I know†¦because then no one would be able to see†¦even Moody†¦and she'd have been able to get onto the window ledge†¦but she's not allowed†¦she's definitely not allowed†¦I think we've got her! Just give me two seconds in the library – just to make sure!†With that, Hermione seized her school bag and dashed out of the Great Hall. â€Å"Oi!†Ron called after her. â€Å"We've got our History of Magic exam in ten minutes! Blimey,†he said, turning back to Harry, â€Å"she must really hate that Skeeter woman to risk missing the start of an exam. What're you going to do in Binns's class – read again?†Exempt from the end-of-term tests as a Triwizard champion, Harry had been sitting in the back of every exam class so far, looking up fresh hexes for the third task. â€Å"S'pose so,†Harry said to Ron; but just then. Professor McGonagall came walking alongside the Gryffindor table toward him. â€Å"Potter, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast,†she said. â€Å"But the task's not till tonight!†said Harry, accidentally spilling scrambled eggs down his front, afraid he had mistaken the time. â€Å"I'm aware of that, Potter,†she said. â€Å"The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them.†She moved away. Harry gaped after her. â€Å"She doesn't expect the Dursleys to turn up, does she?†he asked Ron blankly. â€Å"Dunno,†said Ron. â€Å"Harry, I'd better hurry, I'm going to be late for Binns. See you later.†Harry finished his breakfast in the emptying Great Hall. He saw Fleur Delacour get up from the Ravenclaw table and join Cedric as he crossed to the side chamber and entered. Krum slouched off to join them shortly afterward. Harry stayed where he was. He really didn't want to go into the chamber. He had no family – no family who would turn up to see him risk his life, anyway. But just as he was getting up, thinking that he might as well go up to the library and do a spot more hex research, the door of the side chamber opened, and Cedric stuck his head out. â€Å"Harry, come on, they're waiting for you!†Utterly perplexed. Harry got up. The Dursleys couldn't possibly be here, could they? He walked across the Hall and opened the door into the chamber. Cedric and his parents were just inside the door. Viktor Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired mother and father in rapid Bulgarian. He had inherited his fathers hooked nose. On the other side of the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother. Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her mother's hand. She waved at Harry, who waved back, grinning. Then he saw Mrs. Weasley and Bill standing in front of the fireplace, beaming at him. â€Å"Surprise!†Mrs. Weasley said excitedly as he smiled broadly and walked over to them. â€Å"Thought we'd come and watch you. Harry!†She bent down and kissed him on the cheek. â€Å"You all right?†said Bill, grinning at Harry and shaking his hand. â€Å"Charlie wanted to come, but he couldn't get time off. He said you were incredible against the Horntail.†Fleur Delacour, Harry noticed, was eyeing Bill with great interest over her mother's shoulder. Harry could tell she had no objection whatsoever to long hair or earrings with fangs on them. â€Å"This is really nice of you,†Harry muttered to Mrs. Weasley. â€Å"I thought for a moment – the Dursleys -â€Å" â€Å"Hmm,†said Mrs. Weasley, pursing her lips. She had always refrained from criticizing the Dursleys in front of Harry, but her eyes flashed every time they were mentioned. â€Å"It's great being back here,†said Bill, looking around the chamber (Violet, the Fat Lady's friend, winked at him from her frame). â€Å"Haven't seen this place for five years. Is that picture of the mad knight still around? Sir Cadogan?†â€Å"Oh yeah,†said Harry, who had met Sir Cadogan the previous year. â€Å"And the Fat Lady?†said Bill. â€Å"She was here in my time,†said Mrs. Weasley. â€Å"She gave me such a telling off one night when I got back to the dormitory at four in the morning -â€Å" â€Å"What were you doing out of your dormitory at four in the morning?†said Bill, surveying his mother with amazement. Mrs. Weasley grinned, her eyes twinkling. â€Å"Your father and I had been for a nighttime stroll,†she said. â€Å"He got caught by Apollyon Pringle – he was the caretaker in those days – your father's still got the marks.†â€Å"Fancy giving us a tour, Harry?†said Bill. â€Å"Yeah, okay,†said Harry, and they made their way back toward the door into the Great Hall. As they passed Amos Diggory, he looked around. â€Å"There you are, are you?†he said, looking Harry up and down. â€Å"Bet you're not feeling quite as full of yourself now Cedric's caught you up on points, are you?†â€Å"What?†said Harry. â€Å"Ignore him,†said Cedric in a low voice to Harry, frowning after his father. â€Å"He's been angry ever since Rita Skeeter's article about the Triwizard Tournament – you know, when she made out you were the only Hogwarts champion.†â€Å"Didn't bother to correct her, though, did he?†said Amos Diggory, loudly enough for Harry to hear as he started to walk out of the door with Mrs. Weasley and Bill. â€Å"Still,†¦you'll show him, Ced. Beaten him once before, haven't you?†â€Å"Rita Skeeter goes out of her way to cause trouble, Amos!†Mrs. Weasley said angrily. â€Å"I would have thought you'd know that, working at the Ministry!†Mr. Diggory looked as though he was going to say something angry, but his wife laid a hand on his arm, and he merely shrugged and turned away. Harry had a very enjoyable morning walking over the sunny grounds with Bill and Mrs. Weasley, showing them the Beauxbatons carriage and the Durmstrang ship. Mrs. Weasley was intrigued by the Whomping Willow, which had been planted after she had left school, and reminisced at length about the gamekeeper before Hagrid, a man called Ogg. â€Å"How's Percy?†Harry asked as they walked around the greenhouses. â€Å"Not good,†said Bill. â€Å"He's very upset,†said Mrs. Weasley, lowering her voice and glancing around. â€Å"The Ministry wants to keep Mr. Crouch's disappearance quiet, but Percy's been hauled in for questioning about the instructions Mr. Crouch has been sending in. They seem to think there's a chance they weren't genuinely written by him. Percy's been under a lot of strain. They're not letting him fill in for Mr. Crouch as the fifth judge tonight. Cornelius Fudge is going to be doing it.†They returned to the castle for lunch. â€Å"Mum – Bill!†said Ron, looking stunned, as he joined the Gryffindor table. â€Å"What're you doing here?†â€Å"Come to watch Harry in the last task!†said Mrs. Weasley brightly. â€Å"I must say, it makes a lovely change, not having to cook. How was your exam?†â€Å"Oh†¦okay,†said Ron. â€Å"Couldn't remember all the goblin rebels' names, so I invented a few. It's all right,†he said, helping himself to a Cornish pasty, while Mrs. Weasley looked stern, â€Å"they're all called stuff like Bodrod the Bearded and Urg the Unclean; it wasn't hard.†Fred, George, and Ginny came to sit next to them too, and Harry was having such a good time he felt almost as though he were back at the Burrow; he had forgotten to worry about that evening's task, and not until Hermione turned up, halfway through lunch, did he remember that she had had a brainwave about Rita Skeeter. â€Å"Are you going to tell us -?†Hermione shook her head warningly and glanced at Mrs. Weasley. â€Å"Hello, Hermione,†said Mrs. Weasley, much more stiffly than usual. â€Å"Hello,†said Hermione, her smile faltering at the cold expression on Mrs. Weasley's face. Harry looked between them, then said, â€Å"Mrs. Weasley, you didn't believe that rubbish Rita Skeeter wrote in Witch Weekly, did you? Because Hermione's not my girlfriend.†â€Å"Oh!†said Mrs. Weasley â€Å"No – of course I didn't!†But she became considerably warmer toward Hermione after that. Harry, Bill, and Mrs. Weasley whiled away the afternoon with a long walk around the castle, and then returned to the Great Hall for the evening feast. Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge had joined the staff table now. Bagman looked quite cheerful, but Cornelius Fudge, who was sitting next to Madame Maxime, looked stern and was not talking. Madame Maxime was concentrating on her plate, and Harry thought her eyes looked red. Hagrid kept glancing along the table at her, There were more courses than usual, but Harry, who was starting to feel really nervous now, didn't eat much. As the enchanted ceiling overhead began to fade from blue to a dusky purple, Dumbledore rose to his feet at the staff table, and silence fell. â€Å"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now.†Harry got up. The Gryffindors all along the table were applauding him; the Weasleys and Hermione all wished him good luck, and he headed off out of the Great Hall with Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor. â€Å"Feeling all right. Harry?†Bagman asked as they went down the stone steps onto the grounds. â€Å"Confident?†â€Å"I'm okay,†said Harry. It was sort of true; he was nervous, but he kept running over all the hexes and spells he had been practicing in his mind as they walked, and the knowledge that he could remember them all made him feel better. They walked onto the Quidditch field, which was now completely unrecognizable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them: the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy. Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear. Hagrid, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick came walking into the stadium and approached Bagman and the champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, all except Hagrid, who had his on the back of his moleskin vest. â€Å"We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze,†said Professor McGonagall to the champions. â€Å"If you get into difficulty, and wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you, do you understand?†The champions nodded. â€Å"Off you go, then!†said Bagman brightly to the four patrollers. â€Å"Good luck. Harry,†Hagrid whispered, and the four of them walked away in different directions, to station themselves around the maze. Bagman now pointed his wand at his throat, muttered, â€Å"Sonorus,†and his magically magnified voice echoed into the stands. â€Å"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each – Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!†The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. â€Å"In second place, with eighty points – Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!†More applause. â€Å"And in third place – Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!†Harry could just make out Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Ron, and Hermione applauding Fleur politely, halfway up the stands. He waved up at them, and they waved back, beaming at him. â€Å"So†¦on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!†said Bagman. â€Å"Three – two – one -â€Å" He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and Cedric hurried forward into the maze. The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment they entered the maze. Harry felt almost as though he were underwater again. He pulled out his wand, muttered, â€Å"Lumos,†and heard Cedric do the same just behind him. After about fifty yards, they reached a fork. They looked at each other. â€Å"See you,†Harry said, and he took the left one, while Cedric took the right. Harry heard Bagman's whistle for the second time. Krum had entered the maze. Harry sped up. His chosen path seemed completely deserted. He turned right, and hurried on, holding his wand high over his head, trying to see as far ahead as possible. Still, there was nothing in sight. Bagman's whistle blew in the distance for the third time. All of the champions were now inside. Harry kept looking behind him. The old feeling that he was being watched was upon him. The maze was growing darker with every passing minute as the sky overhead deepened to navy. He reached a second fork. â€Å"Point Me,†he whispered to his wand, holding it flat in his palm. The wand spun around once and pointed toward his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go northwest for the center of the maze. The best he could do was to take the left fork and go right again as soon as possible. The path ahead was empty too, and when Harry reached a right turn and took it, he again found his way unblocked. Harry didn't know why, but the lack of obstacles was unnerving him. Surely he should have met something by now? It felt as though the maze were luring him into a false sense of security. Then he heard movement right behind him. He held out his wand, ready to attack, but its beam fell only upon Cedric, who had just hurried out of a path on the right-hand side. Cedric looked severely shaken. The sleeve of his robe was smoking. â€Å"Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts!†he hissed. â€Å"They're enormous – I only just got away!†He shook his head and dived out of sight, along another path. Keen to put plenty of distance between himself and the skrewts, Harry hurried off again. Then, as he turned a corner, he saw†¦a dementor gliding toward him. Twelve feet tall, its face hidden by its hood, its rotting, scabbed hands outstretched, it advanced, sensing its way blindly toward him. Harry could hear its rattling breath; he felt clammy coldness stealing over him, but knew what he had to do†¦. He summoned the happiest thought he could, concentrated with all his might on the thought of getting out of the maze and celebrating with Ron and Hermione, raised his wand, and cried, â€Å"Expecto Patronum!†A silver stag erupted from the end of Harry's wand and galloped toward the dementor, which fell back and tripped over the hem of its robes†¦.Harry had never seen a dementor stumble. â€Å"Hang on!†he shouted, advancing in the wake of his silver Patronus, â€Å"You're a boggart! Riddikulus!†There was a loud crack, and the shape-shifter exploded in a wisp of smoke. The silver stag faded from sight. Harry wished it could have stayed, he could have used some company†¦but he moved on, quickly and quietly as possible, listening hard, his wand held high once more. Left†¦right†¦left again†¦Twice he found himself facing dead ends. He did the Four-Point Spell again and found that he was going too far east. He turned back, took a right turn, and saw an odd golden mist floating ahead of him. Harry approached it cautiously, pointing the wand's beam at it. This looked like some kind of enchantment. He wondered whether he might be able to blast it out of the way. â€Å"Reducio!†he said. The spell shot straight through the mist, leaving it intact. He supposed he should have known better; the Reductor Curse was for solid objects. What would happen if he walked through the mist? Was it worth chancing it, or should he double back? He was still hesitating when a scream shattered the silence. â€Å"Fleur?†Harry yelled. There was silence. He stared all around him. What had happened to her? Her scream seemed to have come from somewhere ahead. He took a deep breath and ran through the enchanted mist. The world turned upside down. Harry was hanging from the ground, with his hair on end, his glasses dangling off his nose, threatening to fall into the bottomless sky. He clutched them to the end of his nose and hung there, terrified. It felt as though his feet were glued to the grass, which had now become the ceiling. Below him the dark, star-spangled heavens stretched endlessly. He felt as though if he tried to move one of his feet, he would fall away from the earth completely. Think, he told himself, as all the blood rushed to his head, think†¦ But not one of the spells he had practiced had been designed to combat a sudden reversal of ground and sky. Did he dare move his foot? He could hear the blood pounding in his ears. He had two choices – try and move, or send up red sparks, and get rescued and disqualified from the task. He shut his eyes, so he wouldn't be able to see the view of endless space below him, and pulled his right foot as hard as he could away from the grassy ceiling. Immediately, the world righted itself. Harry fell forward onto his knees onto the wonderfully solid ground. He felt temporarily limp with shock. He took a deep, steadying breath, then got up again and hurried forward, looking back over his shoulder as he ran away from the golden mist, which twinkled innocently at him in the moonlight. He paused at a junction of two paths and looked around for some sign of Fleur. He was sure it had been she who had screamed. What had she met? Was she all right? There was no sign of red sparks – did that mean she had got herself out of trouble, or was she in such trouble that she couldn't reach her wand? Harry took the right fork with a feeling of increasing unease†¦but at the same time, he couldn't help thinking. One champion down†¦ The cup was somewhere close by, and it sounded as though Fleur was no longer in the running. He'd got this far, hadn't he? What if he actually managed to win? Fleetingly, and for the first time since he'd found himself champion, he saw again that image of himself, raising the Triwizard Cup in front of the rest of the school†¦. He met nothing for ten minutes, but kept running into dead ends. Twice he took the same wrong turning. Finally, he found a new route and started to jog along it, his wandlight waving, making his shadow flicker and distort on the hedge walls. Then he rounded another corner and found himself facing a Blast-Ended Skrewt. Cedric was right – it was enormous. Ten feet long, it looked more like a giant scorpion than anything. Its long sting was curled over its back. Its thick armor glinted in the light from Harry's wand, which he pointed at it. â€Å"Stupefy!†The spell hit the skrewt's armor and rebounded; Harry ducked just in time, but could smell burning hair; it had singed the top of his head. The skrewt issued a blast of fire from its end and flew forward toward him. â€Å"Impedimenta!†Harry yelled. The spell hit the skrewt's armor again and ricocheted off; Harry staggered back a few paces and fell over. â€Å"IMPEDIMENTA!†The skrewt was inches from him when it froze – he had managed to hit it on its fleshy, shell-less underside. Panting, Harry pushed himself away from it and ran, hard, in the opposite direction – the Impediment Curse was not permanent; the skrewt would be regaining the use of its legs at any moment. He took a left path and hit a dead end, a right, and hit another; forcing himself to stop, heart hammering, he performed the Four-Point Spell again, backtracked, and chose a path that would take him northwest. He had been hurrying along the new path for a few minutes, when he heard something in the path running parallel to his own that made him stop dead. â€Å"What are you doing?†yelled Cedric's voice. â€Å"What the hell d'you think you're doing?†And then Harry heard Krum's voice. â€Å"Crucio!†The air was suddenly full of Cedric's yells. Horrified, Harry began sprinting up his path, trying to find a way into Cedric's. When none appeared, he tried the Reductor Curse again. It wasn't very effective, but it burned a small hole in the hedge through which Harry forced his leg, kicking at the thick brambles and branches until they broke and made an opening; he struggled through it, tearing his robes, and looking to his right, saw Cedric jerking and twitching on the ground, Krum standing over him. Harry pulled himself up and pointed his wand at Krum just as Krum looked up. Krum turned and began to run. â€Å"Stupefy!†Harry yelled. The spell hit Krum in the back; he stopped dead in his tracks, fell forward, and lay motionless, facedown in the grass. Harry-dashed over to Cedric, who had stopped twitching and was lying there panting, his hands over his face. â€Å"Are you all right?†Harry said roughly, grabbing Cedric's arm. â€Å"Yeah,†panted Cedric. â€Å"Yeah†¦I don't believe it†¦he crept up behind me†¦.I heard him, I turned around, and he had his wand on me†¦.†Cedric got up. He was still shaking. He and Harry looked down at Krum. â€Å"I can't believe this†¦I thought he was all right,†Harry said, staring at Krum. â€Å"So did I,†said Cedric. â€Å"Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?†said Harry. â€Å"Yeah,†said Cedric. â€Å"You don't think Krum got her too?†â€Å"I don't know,†said Harry slowly. â€Å"Should we leave him here?†Cedric muttered. â€Å"No,†said Harry. â€Å"I reckon we should send up red sparks. Someone'll come and collect him†¦otherwise he'll probably be eaten by a skrewt.†â€Å"He'd deserve it,†Cedric muttered, but all the same, he raised his wand and shot a shower of red sparks into the air, which hovered high above Krum, marking the spot where he lay. Harry and Cedric stood there in the darkness for a moment, looking around them. Then Cedric said, â€Å"Well†¦I s'pose we'd better go on†¦.†â€Å"What?†said Harry. â€Å"Oh†¦yeah†¦right†¦Ã¢â‚¬ It was an odd moment. He and Cedric had been briefly united against Krum – now the fact that they were opponents came back to Harry. The two of them proceeded up the dark path without speaking, then Harry turned left, and Cedric right. Cedric's footsteps soon died away. Harry moved on, continuing to use the Four-Point Spell, making sure he was moving in the right direction. It was between him and Cedric now. His desire to reach the cup first was now burning stronger than ever, but he could hardly believe what he'd just seen Krum do. The use of an Unforgivable Curse on a fellow human being meant a life term in Azkaban, that was what Moody had told them. Krum surely couldn't have wanted the Triwizard Cup that badly†¦.Harry sped up. Every so often he hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made him feel sure he was getting near the heart of the maze. Then, as he strode down a long, straight path, he saw movement once again, and his beam of wandlight hit an extraordinary creature, one which he had only seen in picture form, in his Monster Book of Monsters. It was a sphinx. It had the body of an over-large lion: great clawed paws and a long yellowish tail ending in a brown tuft. Its head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her long, almond-shaped eyes upon Harry as he approached. He raised his wand, hesitating. She was not crouching as if to spring, but pacing from side to side of the path, blocking his progress. Then she spoke, in a deep, hoarse voice. â€Å"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me.†â€Å"So†¦so will you move, please?†said Harry, knowing what the answer was going to be. â€Å"No,†she said, continuing to pace. â€Å"Not unless you can answer my riddle. Answer on your first guess – I let you pass. Answer wrongly – I attack. Remain silent – I will let you walk away from me unscathed.†Harry's stomach slipped several notches. It was Hermione who was good at this sort of thing, not him. He weighed his chances. If the riddle was too hard, he could keep silent, get away from the sphinx unharmed, and try and find an alternative route to the center. â€Å"Okay,†he said. â€Å"Can I hear the riddle?†The sphinx sat down upon her hind legs, in the very middle of the path, and recited: â€Å"First think of the person who lives in disguise, Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, The middle of middle and end of the end? And finally give me the sound often heard During the search for a hard-to-find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?†Harry gaped at her. â€Å"Could I have it again†¦more slowly?†he asked tentatively. She blinked at him, smiled, and repeated the poem. â€Å"All the clues add up to a creature I wouldn't want to kiss?†Harry asked. She merely smiled her mysterious smile. Harry took that for a â€Å"yes.†Harry cast his mind around. There were plenty of animals he wouldn't want to kiss; his immediate thought was a Blast-Ended Skrewt, but something told him that wasn't the answer. He'd have to try and work out the clues†¦. â€Å"A person in disguise,†Harry muttered, staring at her, â€Å"who lies†¦er†¦that'd be a – an impostor. No, that's not my guess! A – a spy? I'll come back to that†¦could you give me the next clue again, please?†She repeated the next lines of the poem. â€Å"‘The last thing to mend,'†Harry repeated. â€Å"Er†¦no idea†¦'middle of middle'†¦could I have the last bit again?†She gave him the last four lines. â€Å"‘The sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word,'†said Harry. â€Å"Er†¦that'd be†¦er†¦hang on – ‘er'! Er's a sound!†The sphinx smiled at him. â€Å"Spy†¦er†¦spy†¦er†¦Ã¢â‚¬ said Harry, pacing up and down. â€Å"A creature I wouldn't want to kiss†¦a spider!†The sphinx smiled more broadly. She got up, stretched her front legs, and then moved aside for him to pass. â€Å"Thanks!†said Harry, and, amazed at his own brilliance, he dashed forward. He had to be close now, he had to be†¦.His wand was telling him he was bang on course; as long as he didn't meet anything too horrible, he might have a chance†¦. Harry broke into a run. He had a choice of paths up ahead. â€Å"Point Me!†he whispered again to his wand, and it spun around and pointed him to the right-hand one. He dashed up this one and saw light ahead. The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. Suddenly a dark figure hurtled out onto the path in front of him. Cedric was going to get there first. Cedric was sprinting as fast as he could toward the cup, and Harry knew he would never catch up, Cedric was much taller, had much longer legs – Then Harry saw something immense over a hedge to his left, moving quickly along a path that intersected with his own; it was moving so fast Cedric was about to run into it, and Cedric, his eyes on the cup, had not seen it – â€Å"Cedric!†Harry bellowed. â€Å"On your left!†Cedric looked around just in time to hurl himself past the thing and avoid colliding with it, but in his haste, he tripped. Harry saw Cedric's wand fly out of his hand as a gigantic spider stepped into the path and began to bear down upon Cedric. â€Å"Stupefy!†Harry yelled; the spell hit the spider's gigantic, hairy black body, but for all the good it did, he might as well have thrown a stone at it; the spider jerked, scuttled around, and ran at Harry instead. â€Å"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!†But it was no use – the spider was either so large, or so magical, that the spells were doing no more than aggravating it. Harry had one horrifying glimpse of eight shining black eyes and razor-sharp pincers before it was upon him. He was lifted into the air in its front legs; struggling madly, he tried to kick it; his leg connected with the pincers and next moment he was in excruciating pain. He could hear Cedric yelling â€Å"Stupefy!†too, but his spell had no more effect than Harry's – Harry raised his wand as the spider opened its pincers once more and shouted â€Å"Expelliarmus!†It worked – the Disarming Spell made the spider drop him, but that meant that Harry fell twelve feet onto his already injured leg, which crumpled beneath him. Without pausing to think, he aimed high at the spider's underbelly, as he had done with the skrewt, and shouted â€Å"Stupefy!†just as Cedric yelled the same thing. The two spells combined did what one alone had not: The spider keeled over sideways, flattening a nearby hedge, and strewing the path with a tangle of hairy legs. â€Å"Harry!†he heard Cedric shouting. â€Å"You all right? Did it fall on you?†â€Å"No,†Harry called back, panting. He looked down at his leg. It was bleeding freely. He could see some sort of thick, gluey secretion from the spider's pincers on his torn robes. He tried to get up, but his leg was shaking badly and did not want to support his weight. He leaned against the hedge, gasping for breath, and looked around. Cedric was standing feet from the Triwizard Cup, which was gleaming behind him. â€Å"Take it, then,†Harry panted to Cedric. â€Å"Go on, take it. You're there.†But Cedric didn't move. He merely stood there, looking at Harry. Then he turned to stare at the cup. Harry saw the longing expression on his face in its golden light. Cedric looked around at Harry again, who was now holding onto the hedge to support himself. Cedric took a deep breath. â€Å"You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here.†â€Å"That's not how it's supposed to work,†Harry said. He felt angry; his leg was very painful, he was aching all over from trying to throw off the spider, and after all his efforts, Cedric had beaten him to it, just as he'd beaten Harry to ask Cho to the ball. â€Å"The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg.†Cedric took a few paces nearer to the Stunned spider, away from the cup, shaking his head. â€Å"No,†he said. â€Å"Stop being noble,†said Harry irritably. â€Å"Just take it, then we can get out of here.†Cedric watched Harry steadying himself, holding tight to the hedge. â€Å"You told me about the dragons,†Cedric said. â€Å"I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming.†â€Å"I had help on that too,†Harry snapped, trying to mop up his bloody leg with his robes. â€Å"You helped me with the egg – we're square.†â€Å"I had help on the egg in the first place,†said Cedric. â€Å"We're still square,†said Harry, testing his leg gingerly; it shook violently as he put weight on it; he had sprained his ankle when the spider had dropped him. â€Å"You should've got more points on the second task,†said Cedric mulishly. â€Å"You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that.†â€Å"I was the only one who was thick enough to take that song seriously!†said Harry bitterly. â€Å"Just take the cup!†â€Å"No,†said Cedric. He stepped over the spider's tangled legs to join Harry, who stared at him. Cedric was serious. He was walking away from the sort of glory Hufflepuff House hadn't had in centuries. â€Å"Go on,†Cedric said. He looked as though this was costing him every ounce of resolution he had, but his face was set, his arms were folded, he seemed decided. Harry looked from Cedric to the cup. For one shining moment, he saw himself emerging from the maze, holding it. He saw himself holding the Triwizard Cup aloft, heard the roar of the crowd, saw Cho's face shining with admiration, more clearly than he had ever seen it before†¦and then the picture faded, and he found himself staring at Cedric's shadowy, stubborn face. â€Å"Both of us,†Harry said. â€Å"What?†â€Å"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it.†Cedric stared at Harry. He unfolded his arms. â€Å"You – you sure?†â€Å"Yeah,†said Harry. â€Å"Yeah†¦we've helped each other out, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together.†For a moment, Cedric looked as though he couldn't believe his ears; then his face split in a grin. â€Å"You're on,†he said. â€Å"Come here.†He grabbed Harry's arm below the shoulder and helped Harry limp toward the plinth where the cup stood. When they had reached it, they both held a hand out over one of the cup's gleaming handles. â€Å"On three, right?†said Harry. â€Å"One – two – three -â€Å" He and Cedric both grasped a handle. Instantly, Harry felt a jerk somewhere behind his navel. His feet had left the ground. He could not unclench the hand holding the Triwizard Cup; it was pulling him onward in a howl of wind and swirling color, Cedric at his side.
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