Senior High School English Teachers’ Roles Under the New English Curriculum Essay Example for Free

Senior High School English Teachers’ Roles Under the New English Curriculum Essay He teaches in the society in accordance with his special responsibilities he takes and with the roles he plays. Therefore he is required to be quite sensitive to its expectations and perform rightly and appropriately with his due roles and to change his role rightly and timely with the development of the society and with the changes of his specific responsibility he takes. The educational reform in China requires the study of teacher’s roles. The reform of senior high school education in China at present has been leading to a radical change of educational beliefs which are certain to demand a great change of teacher’s roles. In China, the reform of senior high school education has widely aroused peoples attention. In order to promote the implementation of the new curriculum, experts and researchers of teaching have begun their study of changing teaching methods. Therefore, this thesis dedicates to the research of how the senior high school English teachers today should change their role under the condition of the New Curriculum, and hopes to bring up some new ways apt in teaching. 2 The significance of New Curriculum 2. Embodiment of the Essence of Education The course of education is a course of ideality. Its essence is to strengthen the spiritual power of human beings. Plato wrote in his most famous book Utopia the true notion of education through a metaphor told by Socrates: The â€Å"True Education† is to guide people, its soul, and spirit to reach an authentic world, from darkness to brightness, from an opinion-based world to a truth-based world (Socrates 129). This guidance of spirit is in f act the guidance of one’s living. Knowledge and skills are the ladders by which the soul could climb to a higher level. Our ancient classical book The Great Learning penetrates so straight to the point that â€Å"The way of achieving great learning started with one person’s knowing of the morality, carrying on by performing nice to the other people, and having the goodness in one’s heart. † ( 15). The purpose of learning is to reveal the morality in one’s heart, to make a fresh start of one’s life, and to keep a person’s mind in the stage of best morality. Apparently, in modern or ancient times, in China or elsewhere, almost all the great masters of education believed that the essence of education is to perfect the spiritual world of human beings. And the Curriculum standards must be responsible for the developing and growing of students. In the examination-oriented education system, a student is no more than a container of text-book knowledge. The duty and responsibility of a student is to process knowledge no matter how much it actually relates to reality. The actual use value of the knowledge has been ignored; the activeness of the students has been killed. Paper mark is an evaluation tool for every thing. The Ma Jiajue event of a school boy murdering his three roommates made us feel chilling and begin altering. May I ask how this type of students could have a positive attitude towards the challenges in society? How could they cooperate with people and pursuit a further development?! There is an old Chinese saying â€Å"To teach a student six years, a teacher must foresee his sixty years of life. This is the social responsibility of a teacher. To educate students, a teacher must not only make them masters of the textbook knowledge, but also masters of the method and strategies of learning. A teacher would form a positive mental attitude and active desire of the students and guide them enjoying the happiness through the pursuit of success, build up the student’s sense of accomplishment, and make it the motivation of making prog ress. New curriculum standards proposed a â€Å"tool† (an effective tool for high school English teacher to guide the students) and â€Å"humanism† (the new curriculum put humanism as its core) is the unification of the basic characteristics of English courses. The purpose of the study by English students is to improve the English literacy and lifelong learning for students and lay the foundation for the development of personality. Here, â€Å"exploring ability† and â€Å"personality development† received full attention. And the ability to understand and get to the point of the curriculum integration, appreciation, nderstanding, development, innovation has become a real purpose. Evidently, the new course is surprising, it really practices a â€Å"people-oriented† concept of education, reflects the nature of the education. 2. 2 Reflection of the Policy of Education The New Curriculum reflects the actual need to fully carry out the guiding principle on educ ation. We should establish accurate values on education and fully carry out the guiding principle on education in order to bring up quality talents of a new era. The values on education of a lower gradation are to educate individuals and pay too much attention to the chase of making a living or angling for material profits and prestige, but to neglect or depreciate the values of a deeper gradation formed by a full development of individual characteristics and magnificent states of mind. As the human being itself has a potential of many-sided development, the mission of education is to turn the students potentials into developing reality. Its not only the fundamental concept of democracy but the basic right of every student that all of them could develop themselves. The principle to evaluate the standard of lessons reflects two Faces-firstly, face the fully rise of students qualities and secondly, face the entire group of students. This kind of education can make every student develop himself more completely, which is stipulated by the guiding principle on education and also the intrinsic reflection of carrying out ability oriented education. 3 Suggestions on Senior High School English Teaching During a live observation on English teaching in senior high school, it seems common that the teaching materials are making use of teachers, rather than the teachers are using teaching materials. Needless to say, this phenomenon will definitely affect the quality of English teaching in senior high school and as a result, were not able to achieve the goal of English learning which is brought up by ability oriented education. What should senior high school English teachers do to deal with this phenomenon? 3. 1 New Educational Concepts as the Guidance The new education concept refers to the changing from giving undue mphasis to English language techniques into paying close attention to the development of students entire personality and cultivating their positive attitudes as well as encouraging them to learn how to get information and use it creatively. While in the process of senior high school English teaching, the English teachers should transfer from purely emphasizing instructing s tudents in the complex, troublesome and dull English knowledge in books, into providing basic and various information connected with real life for the students, in order to widen their field of view and make English study more effective and interesting. While talking about the manner of the senior high school English teacher, the new concept requires the teachers changing from teaching knowledge of isolated courses into connecting different but related courses with each other and encouraging students to study by experience, investigation and introspection. With respect to the senior high school English teaching evaluation, the new concept suggests the education transferring from emphasizing distinguishing good from bad, selection in contest, demarcating ranks, etc. nto promoting every students improvement of capability and respecting the diversity of personalities and levels of understanding, so as to help them all gain the feeling of success. And with respect to aspect of the relationship between teachers and students, the new concept suggests the shifting from centering on teachers into considering students main, seeking the equal conversation between teachers and students and joint improvement in interaction. 3. 2 Renewal of the Education Capacity The English teaching ability refers to the English teachers structure of knowledge and ability and they should not only have basic knowledge and ability of English language, but also multiple elements consisting of education, psychology, management, art of literature, philosophy and so on, which will make a composite effect. Owing to this composite effect combined with knowledge of various courses, the senior high school English teachers should renew his/her education capacity. He/she should not only make creative use of new teaching materials, organize fully directed English teaching contents and instruct students lessons effectively according to the education principle. He/she should teach according to ones ability. Whats more, they should inspire the students motivation of learning to the full extent and ensure their healthy study in order to achieve the final goal of cultivating the students ability to learn throughout their life. 3. 3 Building-up of the Self-development Approach Teachers arent able to renew knowledge, learn throughout their life and search for self-development. Through lack of approaches to development subjectively, as well as objective reasons such as busy work of teaching or a heavy burden of housework, some teachers have to live on their own limited fat gained in school and without doubts, its difficult for them to adapt to the continuous development of the situation of educational reform. A number of senior high school teachers complain about the new edition text-book and the general requirement of the new curriculum. They used to teach in a traditional way. They as well feel indifferent to the new material in the textbook and don’t know how to teach it to the students. In order to make full use of the new teaching material and raise the quality of English education, theres no doubt that firstly we should establish a new modern educational concept. 4 New Classroom Roles of Senior High School English Teachers What roles should the 21st century senior high school English teachers have? The society informationization and knowledge economy development of the 21st century propose our education on the intense transformation request; the traditional way of study is transformed to the innovative study. This request the teachers to change from the traditional 40-minute teaching role to the shepherd, the organizer, the participant during the educational process, the teacher must have bigger compatibility and flexibility. With the social development today, the science and technology developed rapidly, the computer and the information technology also have a widespread application in teaching. The relationship between the teachers and students is already not completely the simple transmission and acceptance pattern, sometimes the student may acquire knowledge from other channels, they even know in certain aspects comparable more than some teachers do. Teachers authoritative status has been threatened; the teacher and students relation becomes more and more complicated. The teachers role also multiplies. Having the ability to form the fine personality and the multiplex knowledge tructure of the students, and mastering many skills while specializing in one are requirement for teachers today. The teacher must have rich knowledge and many kinds of abilities. Moreover, it is also the duty of a teacher to form the students’ spiritual world, fills the instructive and the creative essence. In the modern society, the teacher has not only changed with the traditional performers basic function, but also has to transmit the experience directly. The students must participant the learning activity. The teacher must guide the students to explore in the environment which he carefully designs. The teacher is no longer a pure transmitter, but also students’ companions, activity organizer, the supporter and helper in the process of students’ learning activity. I will discuss the teachers role mainly in the following part. 4. 1 Teacher as Organizer As is said by Doll, an American expert in education, the teachers status in the relationship between teachers and students is â€Å"a chief in equality† (Doll 191). This conversion requires teachers to step down from the altar filled with â€Å"teachers respect†. And the teachers ought to interact and explore with the students standing on the same flat and help them grow up, mature and become worthful. To organize means to form into a whole with mutually connected and dependent parts. The success of many activities depends on good organization and on the students knowing exactly what they are to do. To be an organizer, senior high school English teachers have to organize the activities and teaching stages successfully in the classroom. Teachers organizing of the class roughly includes two parts— psychological organization and the organization of activity. The central idea of psychological organization is to stimuli students motivation. The main aim of the teacher when he organizing an activity is to tell the students what they are going to talk about, and to give clear instructions about what exactly their task is, get the activity going, and then organize feedback when it is over. For example, for the topic discussion, the teacher can assign students to groups. Jeremy Harmer (1983) noted that the organization of an activity can be divided into three main parts. First the teacher gives a lead-in. Like the lead-in for presentation or for the treatment of receptive skills this will probably take the form of an introduction to the subject. In senior high school English classrooms, teachers can tell students what they are going to talk about during this period. The teacher and students may briefly discuss the topic in order to start thinking about it. He/She should give clear instructions. When the lead-in stage has been accomplished the teacher instructs. This is where he explains exactly what the students should do. Finally the teacher initiates the activity, which is to get the activities going. He gives a final check that students have understood. So the teachers job is to organize the activity as efficiently as possible, frequently checking that the students have understood. Once the activity has started the teacher will not intervene unless it is quite necessary for gentle correction or promptness. During the first year of teaching senior high school English, role play helps the students to use the language flexibly. While students play their roles on their own, the teacher may walk around the classroom to listen to their talks. When necessary, the teacher can also give guidance and advice. After role play, the teacher can ask students to perform in class, and then make comments on their work. 4. 2 Teacher as Guide As is said by ancient people, Teachers are the people who spread logic, teach lessons and solve confusion. The new standard of lessons requires a conversion from â€Å"teaching lessons† to guiding the students to participate in English activities actively, think by themselves and cooperate in investigation, which aims to develop the students abilities to gather and cope with information in English, to gain new knowledge, to analyse and solve problems and to communicate and cooperate. The basic requirements of a teacher as a guide are as follows: 1) To help students to set up right and feasible goal, both long and short term. Once the short goal within the long-term goal is reached, students may be filled up with happiness of success which further motivates them forward. 2) To make classroom activities interesting and meet the needs of the students. The teacher can present language in meaningful contexts, elicit language from students, make instructions clear to everyone by using a variety of techniques (cards, texts, ICT, open questions), manage pairs and groups to maximize practice, monitor individuals and groups, stand back and view the whole class, try to meet the needs of all irrespective of gender or ability, praise warmly, correct when appropriate, confirm and welcome good use of the target anguage, smile and enjoy their job, with general qualities of sensitivity, flexibility, humor, enthusiasm and stamina (similar to those required by the average parent). Moreover its particularly important to separate the role of the motivator from the role of the expert. Teachers often easily play the role of expert often; hence miss the chance to motivate their students. 4. 3 Teacher as Participant To be a participant means that a teacher may take part in the classroom activities. A teacher might join simulations as a participant. However, the teacher should be careful not to dominate, although the students will both allow and expect this to happen. Instead of being the dominating authority in the classroom, the teacher facilitates the communicative process among all the learners and between the students and the various tasks, giving guidance and advice when necessary. Furthermore, teachers may act as independent participants within the learning-teaching group. Any unnecessary intervention on the teachers part may prevent learners from becoming genuinely involved in the activities and thus hinder the development of their communicative skills. Once a teaching activity is in progress, it is still the teachers obligation to develop the students potential through external direction. Although the teacher may be nondirective in general, it is still the teachers responsibility to recognize the distinctive qualities in the students (Han 1979) and to help the students develop those qualities. In senior high school English class, in different settings, students may be asked to attend different activities. Teacher should not be afraid to attend these activities. It can improve the atmosphere in the class. For example, when students talk about current events, students are willing to listen to different peoples opinions on the topic. Sometimes when the whole class takes part in a debate, teachers can also act as a chairperson, or offer students help when it is needed. 4. 4 Teacher as Trainer We used to say that the teachers should have a bucket of water in order to give the students a glass of water. However, this idea should also be changed, which demands the teachers not to limit themselves to knowledge and experience in their mind, but according to the demands of the students, to choose and exploit English teaching resources, design and launch kinds of English teaching activities, open up the room for teaching, guide the lessons into a larger range, strengthen the relation between the English language learning and social life reality. In short, the teachers should help the students to carve out the source of knowledge. As strategy trainers, the teachers describe, model, and give examples of potentially useful strategies; they elicit additional examples from students based on the students own learning experiences; they lead small group or whole class discussions about strategies including activities designed to raise students awareness of strategies and the learning process as a whole, as well as activities designed to teach students how to use a specific strategy. It is a fact that some senior high school English teachers already use many activities in their classes that can be considered â€Å"strategies-based†. However, what seems to be missing is the awareness on the part of the students of what those strategies are or how to get those strategies to work for them. Effective strategy use is often associated with better students, those who have already â€Å"mastered† the learning process. Thus teachers may well be making a real contribution to facilitating the learning process by discussing selected strategies explicitly in the classroom. In class, senior high school English teachers can explain the purpose of the language activity, or call attention to how the teacher has organized the course materials e. g. laying out the range of possible strategies for reading a text in order to summarize it, addressing the many strategies associated with writing a coherent summary. 4. 5 Teacher as Creator of a Positive Environment This is a change of the teachers role in nature. This conversion requires that the teachers should â€Å"push the students forward† instead of â€Å"pulling them along†, and motivate the students instead of â€Å"pressing them†. Whats more, the teachers should help the students to establish a proper goal for English learning, confirm and correct their paths chosen to achieve this goal, and inspire them to develop themselves actively by means like spur, encouragement and commendation. Senior high school English teachers should provide positive classroom environment for students. Classroom climate refers to the atmosphere of the classroom, its social, psychological, and emotional characteristics (DunkinBiddle, 1974). The importance of lassroom climate as it relates to motivation derives from the notion that teaching is leadership intended to affect classroom behaviors. Classroom climate is often described using such terms as warm, cold, permissive, democratic, autocratic, and learner-centered. The climate in the classroom is largely established through teacher-student interactions. In China, teachers teach students English in non-target environment, which is different from those in the natural environment. The refore it is more important to create a good learning environment. Teachers here play an important role in providing a supportive environment that encourages students motivation, self-confidence, curiosity and desire to learn, and input and production. According to the findings in the investigation, this role also has positive effects on students achievements. The investigation shows that Teacher A provided the best language environment among the three classes. From the classroom observation, it can be found that As English is excellent. This shows that the teachers ability of creating the positive environment has much to do with the teachers language proficiency. In order to provide positive environment, the teacher has to: 1) Be capable of speaking fluent English. 2) Give students as many opportunities as possible to practice English. 5 Conclusion This thesis aims at analyzing classroom roles of senior high school English teachers under the requirement of new English Curriculum. This thesis firstly introduces the significance of the new curriculum from two aspects: new curriculum embodies the essence of education, at the same time; it reflects the policy of education. Secondly, according to the new curriculum, the author gives three suggestions on senior high school English teaching. The suggestions aim at bringing out new concepts on high school English teaching as well as renewing the teachers education capacity and building up self-development approach. Thirdly,in order to set up the roles as scientifically as possible, the author investigates students’ expectation and analyzes the relationship between the teacher’s roles and the students’ achievements. The author makes a profound analysis of each role and gives further suggestions. With limited study and knowledge, the explanations in many places are rather weak. The study can only be considered as a start for further insightful researches and findings.

Rosemarie Meghan Miller :: Personal Narrative Cancer

Rosemarie Meghan Miller In the middle of my junior year of high school I transferred from Glouster County Institute of Technology Southern New Jersey Academy of Performing Arts to Wildwood Catholic High School. When I transferred schools at the beginning of every class we said a prayer for John and Rosemarie. For the longest time I did not know why we were praying for these classmates. About a week later Rosemarie returned to class and I met her for the first time. She was such a wonderful person and helped me so much with my transition my new school. She and I had become relatively close over about the next month or so. When we became closer friends I decided I would ask her a personal question. First I asked her why we always said prayers for her and then I asked her why she always wore a bandana on her head. With this she replied, â€Å"Are you serious? You really don’t know?† I was serious; in the month I had got to know her I still had no idea. She then went on to tell me how f reshman year she and John were both diagnosed with Leukemia. At first I was shocked and then apologized because at this point I felt horrible. Then she asked me â€Å"didn’t you realize when you transferred to Wildwood Catholic John and I weren’t in class.† I said, â€Å"No you returned to school about three days after I arrived here so I never even realized it.† We both laughed about it, but I still felt awful. I was able to figure out about John because I don’t think he ever returned for a full day of school while I attended Wildwood Catholic. Rosemarie said this situation was funny, because at first she thought I befriended her because I felt bad for her. But in actuality I had no idea that she was sick. How could I be so inconsiderate and ask her a question about that? Not long after this incident we got an announcement over the loud speaker â€Å"Would the Junior class please report to the auditorium immediately after prayers, Thank You.† I was scared because I had not yet seen Rosemarie that morning, I was just praying that nothing had happened to her.

Christian Societies Emerge in Europe Essay

Christian Societies Emerge in Europe, 600-1200 1. What new political systems emerged in Europe after the fall of Rome? How consistent were these systems, and what major variations were there? Byzantine had a continuation of Roman Imperial rule and tradition where it was completely gone in the kingdoms succeeding Rome in the West. Byzantine still used the imperial law intact while the west used provincial form of Roman law. Byzantine combined imperial rule with the political oversight of the Christian Church which led to Christian monarchs, a ruler with supreme religious and political authority. This prevented the empire to divide into principalities like in the East. Imperial authority and urbanization of the Byzantine protected them from population loss and economic reverse of the Western Empire besides from the Bubonic plague. decline. In western Europe, the imperial legal framework of the Roman Empire disappeared and saw to the rise of kings, nobles and chieftains in regions. Family based traditions of the Germanic people persisted and supplied laws of the Roman emperors. A local lord had a castle where peasants could take refuge in times of fear and security. Manorial systems developed which are self-sufficient farming estates consisted of outbuildings, castle, peasant village and surrounding land. Feudalism is the more political term where kings and lords give land to vassals in return for sworn military support. Fear allowed for farmers to give up their land in return for protection. Poorly organized govt. and isolation made them rely on own resources. The lords provided governance and justice while royal govt. involvement is limited. Jurisdiction fell under the clergy of the church, monasteries or nunneries which owned agricultural land. During the revival of Western Europe, 1000-1200, independent cities formed and were governed by communes or groups of leading citizens. Instead of farming these cities turned to manufacturing and trade. Laws made serfs free once they left the countryside for the city. Venice became dominant sea power and competed with Pisa and Genoa for domination of trade with Muslim ports in Africa and Med. Cites in Flanders rivaled Italian cities in prosperity trade and industry (dominated fish and wool trades) Abundant coinage of silver and gold coming from Muslim and Byzantine lands, promoted economic activity 2. How and why did Christianity spread throughout Europe up to 1200 CE? It spread through the Roman Empire which ruled parts of the Europe west of the Rhine and south of the Danube. First when Christianity was not very widely practiced and it was illegal, it spread along urban networks and lower classes. Then emperors started to convert starting with the Byzantine emperors established Christianity as their official religion. Then Christianity started to gain support and patronage. There were a few missionaries sent out of the Roman Empire such as St. Patrick who spread the religion to Ireland. Trade and Christian slaves also spread Christianity more easily to a broad range of places. After the division of the Roman Empire, two –thirds of Christians adopted Muslim faith in Byzantine territories around southern Med. The church and the jurisdiction of the pope remained a huge influence and role model in society. Kings who succeeded Western Europe generally were Christian so they can win the favor of their subjects. There were more missionaries spreading the teachings of Christianity. Monasteries and covenants planted Christianity in new lands. The Poles and other Slavic people in the North accepted the Christianity of Rome, taught by German priests and missionaries, and diffusion from Constantinople. In Kiev Russia, Vladimir married a bride from the Byzantine imperial family and converted to Orthodox Christianity and opened his lands to Orthodox clerics and missionaries†¦ Generally speaking, Christianity spread because of cultural diffusion, missionaries, political contacts such as marriage alliances, and Christian conquests. 3. How does the economic, social, and political structure of Europe compare with the previous era under the Roman Empire? Economically, Byzantine government remained the same in terms of set prices, organized grain shipments to the capital and monopolies on trade goods and luxuries. This may have slowed economic developments. The focus was mainly on Constantinople’s rich, trade, glittering court and cathedrals leaving the poor and the travelers behind which affected other Byzantine cities negatively. There was no moral code to follow so there were many crimes. In Western Europe, Germanic political order cared less about the urban based  civilization of Rome. It lost pop. in most regions and some cities became villages. Roman Roads, abandoned villas and public buildings started deteriorating as wealth, maintenance, and workers decreased. Paying with coins was replaced with the bartering system. Trade declined so they had to rely on local sources. Roman centralization used its wealth and production on the capital, which spread Rome’s cultural traits throughout the provinces. But Germanic territorial lords persisted on their own cultural traditions so literacy and other aspects of Rome declined. The status of women changed. During the Roman Empire, the family was centered on the legally all-powerful father while woman enjoyed freedom in public. Later, after the 7th century, women lived in confinement and hid their faces under veil. They only socialized with males in their family. On the other hand, from 1028-1056, women ruled along their husbands. Some also played prominent roles based on status such as the daughter of Emperor Comnenus by expressing her ideas and point of view. In Western Europe, the Germanic tradition was splitting property among sons. The Manorial system allowed for Nobles and their family to completely rule over the serfs of agricultural workers who worked the land in return for protection and could not leave the manor where they were born into. This limited the freedom and potential achievement for most people except for the nobles. K nights, the primary figure of medieval warfare, regularly answered to calls for military service and there was a growing number of warriors and horsemen which gradually led to an increased status of a mounted warrior, becoming a landowner. Land was the basis of wealth so the more land, the more support for the knight there is. Fiefs or grants of land could be inheritable as long as military service was provided. Noblewomen played key parts in the Feudal system. A man who married the daughter or widow of a lord with no sons could gain control of their property. Marriage alliances affect the kingdom on a whole. Noblewomen had sufficient roles in society such as directing public works. Noble daughters AND sons had little say in marriage matters but issues of land, power, and military service took more importance. Noblewomen could inherit land even when the husband was away at war. Regular women worked with the men, performing agricultural tasks such as raking, stacking hay, shearing sheep, and picking vegetables. They also were skilled artisans so they could weave and sew. Some women lived my monastic rules by seclusion in convent  but very small percentage. Convents provided refuge for widows and for other women in need of protection and spirituality. Byzantine still maintained Roman Imperial rule and traditions. Imperial authority and urbanization of the Byzantine protected them from population loss and economic reverse of the Western Empire. The Bubonic Plague and other epidemics, excluded from this condition, caused decline of pop., elite, and wealth and shifting views of saints. Power in the imperial court was organized by family based aristocracy rather than earlier class based office holdings by 11th century. Territorial losses of prosperous Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia by the Sassanids and invasions of Slavic and Turkish people in the Byzantine Empire led to military weakness and decline. In western Europe, the imperial legal framework of the Roman Empire disappeared and saw to the rise of kings, nobles and chieftains. Family based traditions of the Germanic people persisted and supplied laws of the Roman emperors. Society focused on rural villages and estates (manors) rather than cities. The Church also played a huge part in the political structure in both Byzantine and especially the West where not only did it offer religious guidance, but political jurisdiction as well according to church or clergy property. Three traditions constantly competed with each other; Feudal law from Germanic custom gave supreme power to the king, canon law is the single hierarchical legal institution with jurisdiction over Western Christians, and Monasticism which is living in a religious and secular community following pre-Christian practices such as celibacy, chastity, obedience and poverty. 4. Describe the process by which Christianity diverged into two branches: Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. There were disagreements between the popes and princes of Western Europe that gradually worsened. The patriarchs of Constantinople challenged the jurisdictions of the popes of Rome and some practices of the Latin Church. This formed a schism or split between the Latin Church and Orthodox Church. Christian populations followed the religious guidance of the pope of Constantinople and the pope of the Western Church had similar authority. Missionaries in the East spread Christianity among the Slavs so in the west, they spread Christianity into the British Isles and German lands. In the West, the papacy is the central administration of the Roman Catholic Church of which the pope is the head. Roman nobles lost control of it though eventually and became an international office where councils of bishops set canons or rules to regulate the priest and people not part of clergy. It was hard to unite the church when there were disagreements between regions over church regulations, shortages of trained clergy, political disorder, insecurity, some polytheism, and selling appointments. Because of political fragmentation, the pope needed allies, especially the support of the king. Both considered themselves as absolute authority. In 969, the Holy Roman Empire established loose confederation of German states and principalities. The first emperor had secular political authority over general Christian interests but the law of the church controlled jurisdiction overall church and clergy property while bishops holding land as vassals owed their service to kings and princes. This led to the investiture controversy or medieval struggle between the church and the lay lords to control churc h appointments and popes vs. emperors and kings. 5. What role did technology and improvements in agriculture play in the development of the European economy? Agricultural Europe produced horses for a specific type of warfare in the Roman legion where larger and heavier horses were needed. Farmers practiced shifting cultivation in Kievan Russia where they would burn a section of forest for fertility instead of manorial agriculture system. Between 1000-1200 western Europe transformed from subsistence farming where only basic needs were met for food, shelter and clothing to growing population and agricultural production. The food surplus made the return of a money-based economy and supported larger numbers of workers and traders. Population growth was started by new technologies and the appearance of the self-governing cities of Italy and Flanders devoted to seaborne trade. There were also improvements in central administration, greater control over vassals, and stronger kingdoms. A new plow appeared which cut deep into the soil to turn over land and made it easier to farm heavy soil but took more energy and animals. The horse collar was a harnessing method used to hitch horse to plows and carts more efficiently as they were faster and stronger than oxen. Some areas favored oxen and contributed to the pop. growth as well. 6. How did Kievan Russia develop both in conjuncture with Western Europe and Byzantium yet develop distinct  characteristics? The environment is quite different because of the fact that there is frozen tundra in the north, cold forest zone, then a more temperate forest, mixed forests and steppe grasslands. There is a different culture of the Slavic people who spoke distinct languages. Kievan Russia developed Orthodox Christianity officially like in Byzantine which extended northward which provided a barrier against Latin Christianity. Even though orthodox Christianity was the official religionthere was still distinct cultural traditions such as polytheist designs and beliefs, rejections of Christian burial practices, and traditional Slavic marriage practicing casual and polygamous relations. Besides this, Kievan developed distinct ones as well. Its political power came from trade rather than from landholding like the manorial system of western Europe. Farmers practiced shifting cultivation in Kievan Russia where they would burn a section of forest for fertility. Poor land and short growing season in the very north made food scarce so the focus was more on horse breeding than agriculture.

Apes (Hominoidea) The Upright Primates

Apes (Hominoidea) are a group of primates that includes 22 species. Apes, also referred to as hominoids, include chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons. Although humans are classified within the Hominoidea, the term ape is not applied to humans and refers instead to all non-human hominoids. In fact, the term ape has a history of ambiguity. At one time it was used to refer to any tail-less primate which included two species of macaques (neither of which belong to the hominoidea). Two subcategories of apes are also commonly identified, great apes (which includes chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans) and the lesser apes (gibbons). Characteristics of Hominoids Most hominoids, with the exception of humans and gorillas, are skilled and agile tree climbers. Gibbons are the most skilled tree-dwellers of all hominoids. They can swing and leap from branch to branch, moving quickly and efficiently through the trees. This mode of locomotion used by gibbons is referred to as brachiation. Compared to other primates, hominoids have a lower center of gravity, a shortened spine relative to their body length, a broad pelvis, and wide chest. Their general physique gives them a more upright posture than other primates. Their shoulder blades lie on their back, an arrangement that imparts a wide range of motion. Hominoids also lack a tail. Together these characteristics give hominoids better balance than their closest living relatives, the Old World monkeys. Hominoids are therefore more stable when standing on two feet or when swinging and hanging from tree branches. Like most primates, hominoids form social groups, the structure of which varies from species to species. Lesser apes form monogamous pairs while gorillas live in troops numbering in the range of 5 to 10 or more individuals. Chimpanzees also form troops that can number as many as 40 to 100 individuals. Orangutans are the exception to the primate social norm, they lead solitary lives. Hominoids are highly intelligent and capable problem solvers. Chimpanzees and orangutans make and use simple tools. Scientists studying orangutans in captivity have shown them capable of using sign language, solving puzzles, and recognizing symbols. Many species of hominoids are under threat of habitat destruction, poaching, and hunting for bushmeat and skins. Both species of chimpanzees are endangered. The eastern gorilla is endangered and the western gorilla is critically endangered. Eleven of sixteen species of gibbons are endangered or critically endangered. The diet of hominoids includes leaves, seeds, nuts, fruit, and a limited amount of animal prey. Apes inhabit tropical rainforests throughout parts of western and central Africa as well as Southeast Asia. Orangutans are found only in Asia, chimpanzees inhabit west and central Africa, gorillas inhabit central Africa, and gibbons inhabit southeast Asia. Classification Apes are classified within the following taxonomic hierarchy: Animals Chordates Vertebrates Tetrapods Amniotes Mammals Primates Apes The term ape refers to a group of primates that includes chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons. The scientific name Hominoidea refers to apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons) as well as humans (that is, it ignores the fact that humans prefer not to label ourselves as apes). Of all hominoids, the gibbons are the most diverse with 16 species. The other hominoid groups are less diverse and include chimpanzees (2 species), gorillas (2 species), orangutans (2 species), and humans (1 species). The hominoid fossil record is incomplete, but scientists estimate that ancient hominoids diverged from Old World monkeys between 29 and 34 million years ago. The first modern hominoids appeared about 25 million years ago. Gibbons were the first group to split from the other groups, about 18 million years ago, followed by the orangutan lineage (about 14 million years ago), the gorillas (about 7 million years ago). The most recent split that has occurred is that between humans and chimpanzees, about 5 million years ago. The closest living relatives to the hominoids are the Old World monkeys.