Habitat for Humanity: Helping the Homeless :: Volunteer

Habitat for Humanity: Helping the Homeless Homelessness is not something that I could ever imagine completely. I, like everyone else, have a simple idea of what it would be like to be homeless. There is so much more to being homeless than most believe. My exposure to Habitat for Humanity is showing me some about the idea of living in a lower income family. This exposure is an experience that all high school and college students should have. One reason for my ignorance on homelessness is my modest exposure to homeless people. I have really never had close contact to homeless or have never done much service work for the homeless. Many people in my family do work with homeless and low-income families. I have heard their stories and I have a little knowledge from what my family has told me. If people, including myself, did more to get involved, we would have more knowledge about the homeless and other poverty-stricken families. I finally got exposure to the low-income families with my grandfather. My grandfather is the person who got me involved in the Habitat work. He is a retired construction teacher and he has taught me many carpentry and handyman skills. I have done a Blitz Build before and I enjoyed it very much. I love doing that type of work and it is even more fun when I get to help out a family with my skills. At Clemson I got to practice these skills once again when my English class helped work on a Habitat house. Now we are assisting the actual Habitat organization by making a promotional brochure. I think that all students should get involved with an organization such as Habitat for Humanity. Doing this will bring them to a closer understanding of what it is like to live in a low income or even homeless family. It is an interesting experience to get involved with the families in society that need help.

Learning children to play percussion instruments Essay

The role of a teaching assistant is to maximise learning, create a safe and positive learning environment and to minimise behaviour problems. I would contribute to the lesson by trying to achieve this goal in the following way: I would ensure all the instruments are ready for the lesson, having checked they are in good repair and unlikely to cause injury. I would supervise the children using the instruments, i.e. check they hold them correctly, use them appropriately be a good role model demonstrating how instruments should be held and used. I would support children who are experiencing difficulties I would monitor children’s ability to use instruments, follow instructions, achieve outcome of lesson Safety would be about the state of the instruments, children’s use of them and ensuring mouth pieces are hygienically treated and maintained Making sure that music sheets are available if needed. I would also monitor their behaviours by supervising and to try and minimize disruptive behaviour, which will help the children keep interest in the lesson. I would also ensure that I carry out observations on the children to make sure they have the ability to use the instruments and to achieve the outcome of the lesson. As a teaching assistant I should also be prepared to offer feedback at the end of the session to either the children or the teacher.

Personality in Politics: Analyzing George W. Bush Essay

The relationship between personality, experience, and political decision-making has been established in several studies. This has been undertaken using â€Å"at a distance techniques† which evaluate the relationship using biographies, speeches, and text from interviews. One of the most prominent names that focused on the predictive ability of personality on political styles and actions of world leaders has been renowned political scientists Margaret Hermann. Hermann lists six factors that influence the impact of world leaders on foreign policy. â€Å"1) what their world view is; 2) what their political style is like; 3) what motivates them to have the position they do; 4) whether they are interested in and have training in foreign affairs; 5) what the foreign policy climate was like when the leader was starting out his or her political career; and 6) how the leader was socialized into his or her present position. † Essentially, personality, background, and previous experiences shape the foreign policy-making behavior of world leaders. This becomes especially clear when leaders confront a national crisis. How a leader conducts foreign affairs in the midst of crisis heightens his level of control on decision-making and resources. It is during this time that the interplay of personality and experience can be evaluated on their impact on the leader’s words and actions. Personality is a significant modifier in a leader’s foreign policy-making behavior. This was posited by Hermann in her leadership analysis of 51 world leaders. Hermann (2003) defined personality to be a mixture of seven traits. These were â€Å"`1) belief in ability to control events, 2) conceptual complexity, 3) need for power, 4) distrust of others, 5) in-group bias, 6) self-confidence, and 7) task orientation. † This paper applies this mode of analysis on George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States with an emphasis on his behavior during the September 11 Crisis and the Iraq War. Bush displayed high belief in his ability to control events, a personality trait related to how an individual perceives his control over political circumstances and his perception on the influence or significance of his state in resolving a foreign policy issue. Judging on his pronouncements about the righteousness of the Iraq War and the responsibility of the US and its allies to stop Saddam Hussein, Bush was strong, even arrogant in his belief that the US must wage war, even going against the judgment of the United Nations Security Council, â€Å"America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people. † In terms of his conceptual complexity, Bush was more inclined to see foreign affairs in black and white terms than appreciate it to be the result of a myriad of factors. Bush displays a straightforward binary stance on the positioning of countries in foreign affairs, most notably the classification that all US action is good and countries better follow it. In his speech precursor to the US campaign after September 11, Bush said, â€Å"Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists. † In analyzing the causes of foreign policy problems, Bush went for the superficial explanation in place of the complex one. In terms of self-confidence, Bush displays high levels of optimism and fervor despite being placed in tight situations. His well-known Bushisms, for instance, seemed to have not marred his confidence or his nature. Despite his numerous verbal fiascos such as in addressing families of victims of September 11, â€Å"They misunderestimated the compassion of our country†¦ I talk to families who die,† Bush has managed to even make fun of himself. In sum, the foreign policy decisions of George W. Bush were reflective of his personality that is characterized by high belief in ability to control events, low conceptual complexity, and high degree of self-confidence. His personality and background created a foreign policy legacy which became detrimental to his party’s bid for the 2010 presidential seat. Bibliography CNN. â€Å"State of the Union Address,† (2004) http://edition. cnn. com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/20/sotu. transcript. 1/index. html (accessed May 8, 2010). CNN. â€Å"Transcript of President Bush’s address. † (2001) http://edition. cnn. com/2001/US/09/20/gen. bush. transcript/ (accessed May 8, 2010). Feller, Ben, â€Å"Analysis: Bush’s Personality Shapes His Legacy. † MSNBC (Jan. 3, 2009), http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/28482517/ (accessed May 8, 2010). Hermann, Margaret, â€Å"Explaining Foreign Policy Behavior Using the Personal Characteristics of Political Leaders. † International Studies Quarterly (1983) 24:7-46. Hermann, Margaret, â€Å"Assessing Leadership Style: Trait Analysis,† in The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaders, ed. J. M. Post (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003).

Cuban Missle Crisis essays

Cuban Missle Crisis essays In 1962, Cuban leaders became convinced that the United States was planning an attack on Cuba. Cuban leaders asked the U.S.S.R. for more military aid. The U.S.S.R. responded by sending missiles and materials to build launch In October of that year, U.S. intelligence produced evidence that the Soviets were building missile sites in Cuba. Khrushchev, leader of Soviet Union, denied they were building missile sites, but the American ambassador to the United Nations, produced photographs taken by U.S. reconnaissance planes for al the world to see. President Kennedy considered it an act of aggression by the Soviet Union. He place an air and naval blockade around Cuba against the delivery of weapons. The U.S. was on edge ready for air strikes on Cuba. Finally, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for an American promise not to invade Cuba. The most dangerous confrontation between superpowers since World War II had come to a peaceful end. Both countries in effect, made a choice against nuclear war. It again seemed possible to hope for peace. That following summer, the two countries took a first step towards an arms agreement by banning the testing of nuclear weapons in the ...

Quiz How Well Do You Know Nursing Slang

Quiz How Well Do You Know Nursing Slang Can you ace this nursing slang text? Take the following quiz to find out whether you’re nursing knowledge is on point or whether you need a refresher course. Source:[women.com]

Wars and Territorial Expansions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Wars and Territorial Expansions - Essay Example This paper illustrates that the Middle East is still very enticing for invasion for oil. Invasion of Afghanistan by the United States in the last decade was a consequence of 9/11 and the US claims to have invaded Afghanistan because it felt insecure and wanted to prevent such terrorist attacks in the future. The Middle East, on the hand, claims that the US invaded Afghanistan to cement itself in the Middle East and take control of the oil resources. The statement in a discussion can be truer and applicable if the word â€Å"secure† is widened in its meaning. It instantly gives a meaning that a country invades another to secure its freedom. In the context of war, the security may also refer to security from economic declines, poverty, and hunger. It may be argued that many wars during the past 300 years have taken place to achieve a â€Å"balance of power† among the European countries as they had made various colonies in different parts of the world. The motive of suprem acy is in the basic human nature but it always sets in when the basic necessities of life are attained with ease. The European territorial expansions were triggered by the motive of attaining economic security as the resources are limited and wants are unlimited. The resources become abundant for a particular country when it explores that of another. As a result, the will to become the supreme power sets in. There is another reason for war which is the supremacy of religion. The Saracen territorial expansion was done in the name of the religion Islam and security had apparently no part in it. But a detailed discussion can lead us to raise the fact that Islam was threatened by its enemies very much during its flourishing years and invasion of its enemies made it secure.

Are you a Collaborative Leader Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Are you a Collaborative Leader - Article Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that there are diverse learning takeaways that include acknowledging that there are four skills areas that collaborative leaders manifest, to wit: â€Å"playing the role of connector, attracting diverse talent, modeling collaboration at the top, and showing a strong hand to keep teams from getting mired in debate†. Likewise, the authors presented the kinds of results that collaborative leaders generate. In sum, these results center on: (1) making global connections; (2) engaging and harnessing diverse talents; (3) pioneering collaborative efforts at an apex of the organizational hierarchy; and (4) taking control in decision-making. It was likewise differentiated in the article the distinguishing features of the three leadership styles: command and control, consensus, and collaborative through expounding on their disparities in organizational structure, access to information, final authority for decision-making, bas is for accountability and control, and applicability. Through the experiences shared by executive officers such as Marc Benioff, CEO of Saleforce.com; David Kenny, President of Akamai Technologies; Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer of General Electric; Bart Bechtm, soon to retire CEO of Reckitt Benckiser; Vineet Nayar, CEO of India’s HCL; and Natura Cosmà ©ticos’s CEO Alessandro Carlucci; have all attested to the remarkable and significant positive transformation accorded with a collaborative leadership style. The authors’ aptly concluded that this particular leadership style is most applicable given the contemporary global setting and emphasized that â€Å"the world has become One firmly believes that there are immense strength and power to that a collaborative leadership style could accord people in organizations.