Quote from: "~Souza~"Showdown Between Katherine and MJ Estate
Originally posted 11 minutes ago by TMZ Staff
TMZ has learned Katherine Jackson has gone into multiple
businesses with a man who promotes online nude
gambling -- and the stage is now set for a showdown
between Katherine and the Michael Jackson estate.
Katherine met Howard Mann five months ago. We're told
she instantly liked him, began inviting him to her grandson's
basketball games and other events, and then they started
talking about publishing a book.
The book -- "Never Can Say Goodbye: The Katherine
Jackson Archives" -- is being published this week and sold
online at http://www.jacksonsecretvault.com.
But there's more. Mann tells us he and Katherine are
producing a biopic on Katherine Jackson's life. And he says
they're going into business to sell 273 unreleased MJ
tracks. Mann bought a storage locker owned by the Jackson
family after they didn't pay the storage bill. There was a
treasure trove of stuff in the locker, including the 273 tracks,
along with 19,800 photos.
But we've learned the Michael Jackson estate is drawing a line in the sand. Estate lawyer Howard Weitzman
tells TMZ, "Mr. Mann can listen to the tracks in his living room or play them at cocktail parties, but he has absolutely no right to the intellectual property and has no claim to the music."
All of the DOTS in the Article are related to Education, Testing and the English Language. I was confused at first by the connection and thought I was on the wrong track. When I realized that the name "Mann" was also connected to education and testing, it became clearer that this is where the DOTS were leading.
When I decipher these DOTS, I look at each acronym and try and find a relationship between them. Once I have established a relationship, I then search out material in regards to each DOT. In this article several of the DOTS were related to Language, specifically the English Language but the first one wasn't. As the other DOTS involve language, I put that into the search as well.
SBKMJE
SBK - Stichting Bouwkwaliteit (Dutch)
Foundation Construction Quality
http://translate.google.com/#auto|en|Stichting%20Bouwkwaliteit
If we think of our education as the foundation of everything we believe this makes sense. It has been constructed for us and therefore the quality of the information is suspect as many things are being kept from us.
Quality Language Foundation
QLF lessons center around the Total Physical Response methodology as developed by Dr. James Asher. This methodology is stress-free and increases proficiency greatly over traditional methods. This is not a method that leads to immediate language production. Our students follow the natural progression of language learning that we see in babies and young children- comprehension is first built through commands and actions and later production is encouraged through the same methods. TPR is combined with songs and games in our classes to enhance the learning experience. We believe that a child's first contact with a new language and culture must be positive and fun as well as instructional. Over a period of several years, the investment in time and money is well worth participation in the program. Our students enter Middle School well prepared for success in their language classes.
http://www.volunteermatch.org/search/org43122.jsp
Total Physical Response
Total physical response (TPR) is a method developed by Dr. James J. Asher, a professor emeritus of psychology at San José State University, to aid learning second languages. The method relies on the assumption that when learning a second or additional language, language is internalized through a process of codebreaking similar to first language development and that the process allows for a long period of listening and developing comprehension prior to production. Students respond to commands that require physical movement. TPR is primarily intended for ESL/EAL teachers, although the method is used in teaching other languages as well. The method became popular in the 1970s and attracted the attention or allegiance of some teachers, but it has not received generalized support from mainstream educators.
According to Asher, TPR is based on the premise that the human brain has a biological program for acquiring any natural language on earth - including the sign language of the deaf. The process is visible when we observe how infants internalize their first language. It looks to the way that children learn their native language.Communication between parents and their children combines both verbal and physical aspects. The child responds physically to the speech of their parent. The responses of the child are in turn positively reinforced by the speech of the parent. For many months the child absorbs the language without being able to speak. It is during this period that the internalization and code breaking occurs. After this stage the child is able to reproduce the language spontaneously. With TPR the language teacher tries to mimic this process in class. The method also promises double efficiency in terms of rate of learning, according to several studies in the literature and referenced in the above book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_physical_response
Historical Foundations of Standardized Testing
According to Gallagher (2003) the use of standardized scholastic testing dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. In the 1800s, Horace Mann introduced the concept of using exams in Boston schools to gain "objective information about the quality of teaching and learning in urban schools, monitor the quality of instruction, and compare schools and teachers within each school" (Gallagher, 2003, p. 85). The tests revealed differences in students' knowledge and additional testing was implemented in order to make sound judgments about student advancement (Scott, 2004). Mann's exams were so successful that they were adopted by school systems across the country. Achievement tests, considered objective and comprehensive, became a popular method for assessing learning.
World War I also had a significant impact on testing strategies in the early twentieth century (Pioneers in Standardized Testing, 2002). The U.S. Army required a method for quickly identifying potential officers among large numbers of recruits. To do so, Arthur Otis and Robert Yerkes developed the Alpha Army Test, which gauged a soldier's mental capabilities. The Alpha Army Test, which had an efficient and effective scoring method, became a model for many future standardized tests. This test changed the image of standardized testing, and patent and copyright requests for tests soared. Student tracking became widely used in schools as standardized tests were used to sort students into different curricula based on abilities.
Student tracking using standardized tests became a common practice in the 1920s. Gallagher states "by 1929 more than five million tests were administered annually, and results were used to segregate those who had learned from those who had not" (2003, p. 88). Testing was also being used to evaluate instructional quality in the schools.
The use of standardized testing in classrooms rose during World War II and the Cold War. Gallagher notes that national leaders believed maintaining a "competitive position in the world was dependent on identifying student talent in academics, leadership, and managerial skills" (2003, p. 90). As a result, standardized testing to determine class placement and advancement increased.
In 1965, the first federal laws were passed requiring the use of standardized tests (Scott, 2004; Nagy, 2000). The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as Title I, channeled money into many under-funded schools and acknowledged the federal government's responsibility to ensure access to educational opportunities nationwide (Scott, 2004). However, in return school districts had to prove that funds were being used appropriately through quantifiable results. Thus, Title I required schools to submit standardized test scores in order to receive federal funding.
Civil rights activists asserted standardized tests were biased on the basis of social class and cultural background. The activists claimed that the tests reinforced social and economic disparities. In 1966, the National Center for Education Statistics authorized a study examining the issue of testing equity amongst diverse populations. Later known as the Coleman Report, the study found a student's home environment was the most important factor affecting school achievement (Rumberger & Palardy, 2005). Supporters of standardized testing used the findings of the Coleman Report to assert students' home environments, and not standardized testing biases, were responsible for the disparities in test scores amongst diverse populations.
Despite the widespread use of testing, standardized testing had little affect on teaching practices until the late 1970s (Moon, Brighton, & Callahan, 2003). Demands for educational accountability increased in the 1970s (Savage, 2003; Nagy, 2000). When students scored poorly, teachers and school administrators were held accountable. Raising the test scores sometimes meant changing the curricula to make sure what the students were learning matched the contents of the standardized tests (deMarrais & LeCompte, 1999). Additionally, Congress changed Title I in 1974 by recommending the increased use of standardized testing to improve school programs and curricula. Gallagher states, "By the 1980s, 33 states mandated some form of minimum competency testing and over 200 million tests were administered annually to determine . . . academic readiness" (2003, p. 92). The use of standardized testing continues to increase in contemporary education.
The standardized testing movement has been influenced by the social theory of functionalism. Parsons, a leading American sociologist after World War II and a representative of the functionalist school, describes the goal of society as the "development in individuals of . . . capacities which are essential prerequisites of their future role performance" (as cited in Pai & Adler, 2001, p. 130). Schools act as sorting mechanisms from a functionalist viewpoint, grouping students according to their measured abilities. Thus, students are trained to perform their assigned functions in society. Standardized testing facilitates the selection process by grouping students into clearly defined levels of ability and related job categories. Functionalism leads to a rigidly-structured hierarchical society based on merit.
http://jalt.org/test/edw_1.htm
MJE -McGill Journal of Education
This is a long article I will just include the first page.
Please click the link if you are interested in reading it.
HyperTexts: The language and culture of educational computing
McGill Journal of Education, Spring 2002 by Janet Blatter
Every generation, it seems, believes that it invented sex and "the" technology. HyperTexts: the language and culture of educational computing by Ellen Rose, reveals nothing about the former but attempts to shed light on how "the" technology - the digital content, use, and production of computer based education - is wrapped in a discourse that is permeated by social, ideological, and political structures and values. Rose uses a poststructuralist interpretation of various "texts" produced by 'technologists'. She states that it is not her contention to adopt a position as either an advocate or a detractor of educational computing. However, it is clear early on in her book that she sees the current practice of educational computing to be, in effect, old wine in new bottles. To Rose, it is nothing more than an updated, slicker version of power-structures and social beliefs that limit the potential of new technologies to truly inform and reform educational practices.
That education is a value laden enterprise is undeniable, even if this insight is frequently neglected in research that focuses on content and delivery. Poststructuralists maintain that what we teach (the content) is implicitly a symptom of what is valued that "needs" to be taught. At the same time, how it is taught, by whom and with what tools (the delivery) is equally important. HyperTexts is situated in the continuing debate about the values that underlie the relationship between knowledge and power. Dismissing the notion of neutrality or innocence in digital technologies, Rose presents a critique of our acceptance of computer based learning and instruction as a sort of Trojan Horse of cultural norms, values, and desires that serve to reinforce existing power structures. The problem she raises is not about the effectiveness of the computer technology as teaching content, but rather its effectiveness in teaching "colonizing" values and practices that are frequently hidden or masked in the discourse around assessment and evaluation. As a poststructural work, HyperTexts is unapologetic about its activist goal of prompting a heightened awareness leading to more conscious choices of educational practices.
Poststructuralists believe, as do many educational, social, and cognitive psychologists, that language in use is an indicator of structures of thought. Meaning making is a discursive activity that either explicitly or implicitly reproduces the basic social, political, and ideological values in place in that society. In other words, no human enterprise is neutral, including scientific research, educational research, and, as mapped out in this book, educational technology. Further, any artifact or program produced in a society acquires value through the construction of meaning afforded by the discursive practices in that society. Thus, the classroom is a microcosm of larger sociopolitical values, and the production, adoption, and use of computer technologies mirrors the larger context in which digital meaning is made.
Much of the force behind poststructuralist inquiry is the notion of "problematizing," adopting a reflective and critical look at the commonplace, at tacit and habitualized practices. Turning the mundane into the exotic is, according to Rose, assisted by techniques instituted by Foucault, Derrida, and Lacan, such as looking at the edges of cultural practices and deconstructing the semiotic associations.
HyperTexts: the language and culture of educational computing investigates educational technology through the texts produced in advertising, popular culture, film, jokes, policy making, and software and instructional design, and researchers and educators including Papert, Minsky, Tapscott, and Negroponte. This indirect probe of the technology through the discourse surrounding it is in line with the subversive nature of poststructural inquiries. Poststructuralist interpretation has a forensic feel, as the researcher tracks and investigates who benefits from the phenomenon in question, who profits financially, culturally, or politically in its production. In essence, Rose's interpretation of meaning as the construction and reconstruction of power provides the lens through which educational technology is explored in her book.
Rose distances her critique of educational computing from the proponents and detractors of educational computing who emerge from more scientific backgrounds, whose work she dismisses as argumentative theoretical posturing, resting on positivist claims. She maintains that we must "find new ways of apprehending.... educational computing as a cultural phenomenon." Instead, she focuses on the language and meaning woven into cultural tracts. Her aim is to "understand the assumptions, interests, and desire lodged behind those claims," and to "illuminate the way language constructs our understandings of educational computing, as well as such fundamental concepts of learning, knowledge, and education."
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3965/is_200204/ai_n9029627/
McGill University
McGill University is a research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. McGill is recognized for its award-winning research and participates in research organizations both within Canada and in the world, including the G13, the Association of American Universities, and Universitas 21. Its undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools consistently top national and international rankings, such as those published by Maclean's, and among the top 20 universities in regional and worldwide rankings, including the Times Higher Education (THE) – QS World University Rankings and Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGill_University
This Canadian University origins stem from Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning. British Influence as Canada was part of the British Empire.
TKTJBB
TKT - Teaching Knowledge Test (education)
Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) - Developed by the University of Cambridge
What is TKT?
The Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) is a test from Cambridge ESOL about teaching English to speakers of other languages. It aims to increase teachers' confidence and enhance job prospects by focusing on the core teaching knowledge needed by teachers of primary, secondary or adult learners, anywhere in the world. This flexible and accessible award will help you to understand:
* different methodologies for teaching
* the 'language of teaching'
* the ways in which resources can be used
* the key aspects of lesson planning
* classroom management methods for different needs.
After taking TKT, teachers who want to develop their knowledge further can progress to Cambridge ESOL's well-established Teaching Awards, such as ICELT and CELTA.
Who is TKT for?
TKT gives teachers a strong foundation in the core areas of teaching knowledge needed in the English language teaching classroom. It is ideal for all teachers, whatever their background and teaching experience, and is also suitable for people who would like to teach English but do not yet have a teaching position.
There are no formal entry requirements. However, anyone wishing to take TKT is strongly advised to have at least an intermediate level of English — Level B1 of the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) — e.g. PET, IELTS band score of 4.
What does TKT involve?
Most teachers are likely to follow a preparation course before taking the test but you can also prepare yourself through your own reading and study, if you prefer.
TKT has three core modules. These can be taken together in one exam session or separately, in any order, over three sessions. Each module consists of a test of 80 objective questions, lasting 80 minutes, which require you to select the correct answer and mark this on a computerised answer sheet.
Module 1 — Language and background to language learning and teaching:
* describing language and language skills
* background to language learning
* background to language teaching
Module 2 — Planning lessons and use of resources for language teaching:
* planning and preparing a lesson or sequence of lessons
* selection and use of resources and materials.
Module 3 — Managing the teaching and learning process:
* teachers' and learners' language in the classroom
* classroom management.
TKT uses an indicative glossary of english language teaching terminology that is regularly reviewed and revised to ensure that all modules reflect continuing developments in core area of teaching knowledge. The current glossary, released in August 2009, can be downloaded from the link on this page.
Results
There is no Pass/Fail. Every candidate receives a certificate for each module taken.
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/teaching-awards/tkt.html
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge (informally Cambridge University, or simply Cambridge) is the second oldest university in England and the fourth oldest in the world.
The university grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge that was formed, early records suggest, in 1209 by scholars leaving Oxford after a dispute with townsfolk. The two "ancient universities" have many common features and are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge. In addition to cultural and practical associations as a historic part of British society, the two universities have a long history of rivalry with each other.
Academically, Cambridge has been ranked one of the world's top five universities, the leading university in Europe, and contends with Oxford for first place in UK league tables.The University's alumni include 87 Nobel Laureates as of 2010. The University is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the Coimbra Group, the League of European Research Universities and the International Alliance of Research Universitie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cambridge
JBB - Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology
A search of this Scientific journals website brought up numerous article on language and education. I could be here a while reading them all to figure out if one or all of them are relevant. I believe that the intention of this DOT is to show that there is quite a bit of research involved in regards to Language and teaching English to people. Feel free to click the link and read the articles if you like :lol:
Journal Content
English Language Teaching
Subject: Education --- Linguistics
Publisher: Canadian Center of Science and Education
Country: Canada
Language: English
Keywords: language teaching, language education, theory, methodology, educational psychology
Start Year: 2008
Year Volume-Issue
2010 Volume: 3 - Issue: 2
2010 Volume: 3 - Issue: 1
2009 Volume: 2 - Issue: 4
2009 Volume: 2 - Issue: 3
2009 Volume: 2 - Issue: 2
2009 Volume: 2 - Issue: 1
2009 Volume: 1 - Issue: 2
2009 Volume: 1 - Issue: 1
http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=openurl&i ... re=journal
Canadian Center of Science and Education
Canadian Center of Science and Education (CCSE) is an independent organization delivering supports and services to education and research in Canada and the world.
Canadian Center of Science and Education established in 2006. In partnership with federal government, province governments, community organizations, public agencies, enterprises and other foundations, CCSE offers a variety of programs to support and promote education development, international cooperation, including educational programs for students, financial support for researchers and international education projects, as well as scientific publication.
Canadian Center of Science and Education (CCSE) publishes a number of journals, covering social science, natural science, health science, economics and management. All journals are peer reviewed, and open access for download.
Mission - Working for the future generation
Activities
Scientific publishing
Develop networks for international education and research
Offer scholarships for educational institutions, students and researchers
Financial support for research projects
Promote the social development
http://www.ccsenet.org/aboutus.html
These DOTS made me think that maybe I should look up the origins of the English Language and see what came up.
What are the origins of the English Language?
The history of English is conventionally, if perhaps too neatly, divided into three periods usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English. The earliest period begins with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A.D., though no records of their language survive from before the seventh century, and it continues until the end of the eleventh century or a bit later. By that time Latin, Old Norse (the language of the Viking invaders), and especially the Anglo-Norman French of the dominant class after the Norman Conquest in 1066 had begun to have a substantial impact on the lexicon, and the well-developed inflectional system that typifies the grammar of Old English had begun to break down.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq/history.htm
So we don't know where the English language has originated from, yet we are trying to teach it to everyone...
And I stumbled onto Milton's Poem "Paradise Lost" while googling all of this.
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification; the majority of the poem was written while Milton was blind, and was transcribed for him.
The poem concerns the Judeo-Christian story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men" and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will.
Milton incorporates Paganism, classical Greek references, and Christianity within the poem. It deals with diverse topics from marriage, politics (Milton was politically active during the time of the English Civil War), and monarchy, and grapples with many difficult theological issues, including fate, predestination, the Trinity, and the introduction of sin and death into the world, as well as angels, fallen angels, Satan, and the war in heaven. Milton draws on his knowledge of languages, and diverse sources — primarily Genesis, much of the New Testament, the deuterocanonical Book of Enoch, and other parts of the Old Testament. Milton's epic is generally considered one of the greatest literary works in the English language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost
LANGUAGE IN PARADISE LOST
Milton's English
Paradise Lost is generally agreed to be our greatest epic, even the greatest work of literature written in the English language. Given this, it is rather strange to find a benign strain of criticism which denies the very Englishness of this epic. From as early as the eighteenth century when Samuel Johnson concluded that Milton 'wrote no language', to the twentieth century when T.S. Eliot claimed that Milton 'did damage to the English language' and F.R. Leavis asserted that 'Milton had renounced the English language', the language of Paradise Lost has been embroiled in controversy.
Milton's Multilingualism
Although one can safely conclude that Milton did write in the English tongue (to be more precise, the early modern English of the Renaissance), different languages resonate throughout this epic. Biographers postulate that Milton knew as many as ten languages, among them Latin, Greek, Italian, Dutch and even Hebrew. Given this range of linguistic knowledge, it is hardly surprising to find a high level of awareness with regard to the etymology (i.e. the linguistic origins) of the words he used. But before we consider how he manipulated the senses in which he used his words, we must make a foray into biblical realms in order to understand how Milton viewed language.
The Word
At the beginning of the Book of John, we find the famous formulation: 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' (1:1). In Christian theology, this 'Word' is the creative power of God and is usually equated with the Son. In Paradise Lost, Milton makes this association explicit; Milton's God addresses and names the Son 'My word, my wisdom, and effectual might' (III.170) and later the 'omnific Word' (VII.217).2 When God addresses the Son, God's words become the Word and take effect:
And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee
This I perform, speak thou, and be it done...
So spake the almighty, and to what he spake
His Word, the filial Godhead, gave effect. (VII.164-75)
Samuel Johnson, in his dictionary, uses the first two lines of this quotation to illustrate the definition of the word 'word' as 'The second person of the ever adorable Trinity'.3 It is the Word/Son that actually performs God's will. The second line of this quotation can become a wider formula for the dynamic of the relationship between the Son and God: 'This I perform, speak thou, and be it done'.
There is a theory of language called Speech Act Theory which identifies certain types of utterance (speech acts) that perform actions rather than simply saying or describing something.4 The words God speaks at the Creation are the ultimate and original speech act; as narrated in Genesis and Paradise Lost, God only has to speak and the words come into effect:
And God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light...
(Genesis, 1:3)
Let there be light, said God, and forthwith light
Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure
Sprung from the deep... (VII.243)
Milton inverts the arrangement of the identification of the voice and the spoken words themselves, thus absorbing God's voice entirely into the poetic lines. 'Sprung' is an inverted iamb, mirroring the initial inverted foot of 'Let there be...' to assert a metrical alignment that parallels the semantic and tangible fulfilment. In both the Bible and Paradise Lost, the coordinating conjunction 'and' asserts the success of this speech act, as God only has to say the words for their substance to be realised. Twice in Book VII, we encounter 'He named' (252, 274), as a synonym for 'he created'. God's naming of the world, then, is equivalent to its creation, as the very naming of things initiates their existence as realities.
Dark Satanic Language
Satan is an inveterate liar who abuses language for his own evil purposes. Satan's language is 'Ambiguous and with double sense deluding' (Paradise Regained, I.435), whereas the Son's language (and by extension God's) enforces a kind of linguistic harmony where 'Thy actions to thy words accord' (Paradise Regained, III.9). In Paradise Lost, Satan's 'ambiguous words' (V.703, VI.568) act as 'persuasive' traps, 'replete with guile' (IX.737, 733). He utters 'high words, that bore | Semblance of worth not substance' (I.528), and it is worth bearing this in mind should you be tempted to succumb to his enticing rhetoric, as Eve or, more recently the poets Shelley and Blake have been known to do! God's words are necessarily congruent with their meaning (God is unable to lie). But while Satan lacks the power of speech acts, he has the sophistical ability to dissemble.
If interested please read the rest of the article at the link.
http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/darknessvisible/language.html
All this is making me wonder where the English language comes from and why it is so important that it be taught to everyone, especially as the educational and testing systems have been created by the "Men Behind The Curtain" as a means to identify the highly intelligent, determine our social standing and which opportunities will be available to each of us.
