Thursday, October 31, 2019

The Step in the Design of Effective Teaching and Learning Programs Essay

The Step in the Design of Effective Teaching and Learning Programs - Essay Example Assessment that enhances learning recognizes that learners use their current understanding to discover, develop and incorporate new knowledge, understanding and skills. Assessment for learning helps teachers and students to know if that current understanding is a suitable basis for future learning. assessment influence student learning and learning processes. This involves using assessment activities to clarify student understanding of concepts and planning ways to remedy misconceptions and promote deeper understanding. Assessment for learning encourages self-assessment and peer assessment. Students can develop and use a range of strategies to actively monitor and evaluate their own learning and the learning strategies they use. The feedback that students receive from completing assessment activities will help teachers and students decide whether they are ready for the next phase of learning or whether they need further learning experiences to consolidate their knowledge, understanding and skills. Teachers should consider the effect that assessment and feedback have on student motivation and self-esteem, and the importance of the active involvement of students in their own learning. Marking guidelines and/or criteria for judging performance reflect the nature and intention of the activity and will be expressed in terms of the knowledge and skills demanded by the activity relative to the outcomes, to be gathered and reported of a poster evaluation sheet. During the teaching-learning experiences leading to the presentation of their poster, students will receive oral and/or teacher feedback in relation to: The aim of feedback is to communicate to students how well their knowledge, understanding and skills are developing in relation to the outcomes. Feedback enables students to recognize their strengths and areas for  development and to plan with their teacher the next steps in their learning. They are then given opportunities to improve and further develop their knowledge, understanding and skills.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Blood Brothers Essay Example for Free

Blood Brothers Essay In the three plays I have read by Willy Russell, all of them are linked by the fact that they all contain an aspect of social inequality. Russell uses humour in all these plays to show serious messages, mostly through stereotypes. In every play there are two very contrasting social groups, each figure-headed by certain characters in the stories. For example, in Blood Brothers, Mickey figureheads the working class society like Rita does in Educating Rita, and the children do in Our Day Out. Whereas Eddie figureheads the middle class society in Blood Brothers, Frank does in Educating Rita, and Mr. Briggs does in Our Day Out. We found that the people from the working class backgrounds were all very broad scoucers, who tended to use slang words such as ciggie and chippie. They were what you would call a very typical stereotype of a broad liverpudlian. Most of them had problems aswell. For instance, Mickey in Blood Brothers has family problems because he has many older siblings which means he gets a lot of hand-me-down clothes and gets bullied by his older brother Sammy who breaks his toys. Rita in Educating Rita has many conflicts with her husband Denny who doesnt want her to carry on with her tuition from Frank. She wants to be educated so that she can have choices. As the play progresses and Rita becomes more educated she begins to make her own decisions, she moves out of her house, ends her relationship with Denny and says I might even have a baby The people from the middle class backgrounds however were made to look rather different. Eddie in Blood Brothers doesnt have to share his toys with brothers or sisters like Mickey does, and his mother doesnt have to worry about financial problems because they have quite a lot of money. The men that were from the middle class backgrounds (Mr. Briggs and Frank) both wore suits and seemed to be well educated, living a comfortable lifestyle. This society of people in the stories tended to speak more formally using words such as What in the world is being off ones cake? Eddie is brought up to speak correctly and not use colloquialisms. In Blood Brothers Micky asks him what a dictionary is and Eddie replies It is a book which tells you the meaning of words. I think Russell makes the social classes seem so very different to one another in each play, so that when they come together there is a lot of humour, but also a lot of tension between them because neither social class really understand each other. This forms a rich and poor type of scenario for all three plays. In Educating Rita Frank is a rich lecturer and Rita is a poor university student who has bad problems with her husband at home. In Our Day Out there is a similar contrast between Mr. Briggs the, well-spoken teacher, and the children who come from a poor, run-down area. These rich and poor scenarios are serious messages that Russell conveys in all three plays. Interestingly enough though, it is the people from the middle class backgrounds that turn out to be the most strange of the two societies. Frank in Educating Rita has a drink addiction, yet has a comfortable lifestyle and is on a stable income. Mr. Briggs doesnt like the children at the school where he works because they are less fortunate than himself, he says most of them were rejects on the day they were born. Eddies adopted mother in Blood Brothers, Mrs. Lyons, is supersticious and unhappy. Quote: The shoes! The shoes! On the table! Get them off! Get them off! Frank and Mr. Briggs are in many ways the same, they both wear suits and dress smartly, they both have similar lifestyles and they both have some sort of problem (i. e. the drink and the hatred for people less fortunate than him). This is where I think that Blood Brothers is different, it doesnt contain a male character as old as Frank or Mr. Briggs who appears often in the story. Whereas the conversations between adult and youth in the other stories are mainly comical, like in Our Day Out when the two lads are caught smoking at the back of the bus, in Blood Brothers they are more intense. I think Blood Brothers on the whole is more intense. In Blood Brothers Russell uses a narrator drifting in and out of the play at certain times, saying daunting things about the scene that has just happened, or is going to happen. I believe this represents the devil and is a good way of creating an eerie tension, because he moves to different places on the stage in the play, and you never see his whole face or body, he is always in the shadows. There are no narrators in the two other plays but dramatic devices also take on the form of dramatic irony. In Blood Brothers this is shown by the two twins not knowing they are twins, when they first become friends. Later in the story when they find out they were born on the same day That means we can be blood brothers the audience can see what is happening, they are going to eventually find out that they are real brothers, and there will be a big disaster because of this. Our Day Out shows dramatic irony when the bus driver is told the children cant afford sweets or lemonade lemonade never touches their lips but when the driver turns around they all are munching on chocolate bars! Later on their journey the bus stops at a sweet shop and the audience sees the shopkeepers talking about raising the prices of the goods in their shop Can I help inflation? The audience now know that the shopkeepers are going to raise their prices, but the children dont. The children get their revenge for being ripped off. They all squeeze into the shop and each time the shopkeepers turn their backs to collect more sweets from the shelves, the kids pocket anything in front of them. The two shopkeepers are oblivious to the stealing taking place until the coach leaves and they realise no money from the till has changed hands Thievin little bastards! shouts one of the shopkeepers. Russell also uses the influence of song in Blood Brothers and Our Day Out to show the mood and feelings of the characters as the play progresses. At the beginning of Blood Brothers Mrs. Johnston is seen dancing in a pub singing a song with the lines Oh we went dancing. in the chorus. As the play continues she occasionally sings this line but at a tempo which reflects the mood of the play itself. In Our Day Out the songs are cheerful and uplifting Were off, were off, were off in a motor car. The themes of the three plays are all linked in many ways. As I have said before, social inequality connects all three, another is the fact they are all set in and around Liverpool with some of the characters in each play speaking with a very broad Liverpudlian accent. Finally, the last one is that they all contain an aspect concerning death. I. e. In Blood Brothers, Mickey and Eddie, in Educating Rita, Ritas flatmate tries to commit suicide, and in Our Day Out one of the pupils called Carol also attempts to kill herself Try an get me an Ill jump over. I believe that Willy Russell features the aspects of social inequality, hatred, death, abuse, love, irony and humour in each play because he knows they have a hard-hitting impact on the audience. Also I think it is because at some time in his life he has been affected significantly by them and so, involves them in something which he can express his feelings and emotions at. Writing.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Elie Wiesels Relationship With God In Night English Literature Essay

Elie Wiesels Relationship With God In Night English Literature Essay What are you, my Godà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦compared to this afflicted crowd, proclaiming to You their faith, their anger, their revolt? What does your greatness mean, Lord of the Universe, in the face of all this weakness, this decomposition, and decay? (73-74) You would often hear these questions in concentration camps for Jews during the Holocaust; while fellow Jews were mercilessly killed. Elie Wiesels memoir, Night, is his personal encounter with the Holocaust as a Jew. He had an average life in a little town in Transylvania. At the age of fifteen, his life becomes full of suffering and oppressions. Wiesel and his family were moved into concentration camps, which resulted in losing his mom and sister and altering his views of religious ways and life. The most important altercation is Wiesels connection with religion because thats what gives him the courage and strength to continue to live. Initially Elie shows strong devotion, then becomes disillusioned with Gods power, and ultimately redefines the position God holds in his life. In the beginning, Elie Wiesels relationship with God in Night shows strong devotion. Wiesel made spirituality inherent to all activities and initiated the study of the Zohar, and advanced Jewish text, by himself with the help of Moche the Beadle. Wiesel wished to spend his life focused around Judaism and devoted all his free time and energy on religious studies. With Moches guidance, they would read the same pages of the Zohar over and over to extract the divine essence from it (15). Wiesel believed that religion was a basic survival need, showing that he followed his religion instinctively; just as he would any other body function. When Moche asked him why he prayed, Wiesel couldnt think of a proper answer and thought, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦strange question, why did I live, why did I breathe? (14). Wiesel maintained confidence in religion as the situation deteriorated. Wiesel and his people gave thanks to God for survival, keeping hope that God was putting them through a test of hardships what would keep them alive if they kept their faith. When they had arrived at Auschwitz, they thanked God and were able to regain their confidence because, Here was a sudden release from the terrors of the previous nights (36). Wiesel thanked God for the little things that helped him because he wanted a sense of protection and clung to the belief that God watched over them and helped them survive the challenges he faced. When Wiesels new shoes get covered in mud and are not discovered by the SS Guards, he thanked God, in an improvised prayer, for having created mud in His infinite and wonderful wisdom (47). In the next stage of Elies relationship with God in Night he becomes disillusioned with Gods power. One way Elie accomplishes this is by doubting Gods preeminence. Within the concentration camps, the Jews went through torture that caused them to question the foundation of their religion. In one conversation among them, Elie ponders his misgivings about Gods justice and sees God in a new light that brings him to fell à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I had ceased to pray. How I sympathized with Job! I did not deny Gods existence, but I doubted His absolute justice (53). As examined in the previous paragraph, Elies religion was central to his life, however this stage is marked by him turning away from God and trying to sort out all the turbulent feelings of abandonment and injustice. As Elie was confronted with the horrors of the crematorium for the first time his faith and all of the things he thought he knew were severely altered, and (f)or the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bles s His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank him for?(42). Another way that Elie expresses his disappointment in God is by rebelling against the religious teachings he has followed all his life. One point that Elie put a great amount of stress on in Night, is the fact that while in this camp he felt like God was nonexistent. As the first nightmarish night in the concentration camp unfolded, Elie as a person was changed. His beliefs became different and he was no longer able to see the world in the same light, as expressed in (n)ever shall I forget these moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust(43). As all of this ran through his mind, Elie began to resent God and the religious habits he had been following. As his life was taken apart bit by bit, God meant less and less to him. This was due to the fact that he couldnt get past the thought that God should stop this. This led him to revolt ag ainst God, and he found himself asking Why, but why should I bless him? In every fiber I rebelled(74). Ultimately, Elie redefines the position God holds in his life. Elie sees that the Holocaust highlights the evil and cruelty from everybody. Not only by the Nazis, but from the other prisoners, his fellow Jews, even himself. He feels that if the world is so awful and cruel than God either must be awful and cruel or not exist altogether. (On Yom Kippor) I no longer accepted Gods silence. As I swallowed my bowl of soup, I saw in the gesture an act of Rebellion and protest against him (pg. 76). From this, Elie feels that he is better off alone in a world without God and man. I was no longer capable of lamentation. On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes were open and I was alone terribly alone in a world without God and without man (pg. 75). Because Elie realizes his belief of God was always present, his habit of religion will never leave. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦In spite of myself, the words formed themselves and issued in a whisper from my lips:à ¢Ã¢â€ š ¬Ã‚ ¦May His name be blessed and magnifiedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ My heart was bursting (pg. 43). Elie prays to God subconsciously, reflecting the incompleteness of his loss of faith. Elie claims he no longer believes in God, but he, in turn, looks to God when he is doubtful of his ability to control himself. And in spite of myself, a prayer rose in my heart, to that God whom I no longer believed (pg. 97). In Night, Wiesels relationship with God experiences ups and downs, which ultimately changes his views about God. At the very beginning of the book, Wiesel shows his strong devotion to God but as he personally experiences the Holocaust, Wiesel becomes cynical of his religious beliefs. While Wiesel grows and transforms into a man, he simultaneously redefines Gods position in his life. Wiesel, being a forthright author, surfeits many examples of the mental and physical effects of people in the Holocaust and more specifically, a young boy. For this reason, Night provides a deeper understanding of the Holocaust so that with a better understanding of such a horrific event, history does not repeat itself.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Land Rover North America, Inc. Case Analysis :: LRNA Business Marketing Case Study, solution

Land Rover North America, Inc. Case Analysis I. Executive Summary   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Charles Hughes, president and CEO of Land Rover North America (LRNA), and his executive committee want to expand LRNA’s reach within North America. Based on the growing strength of the U.S. SUV market, research which suggests consumers are seeking vehicles that can help them have â€Å"experiences† while being practical, safe, reliable and luxurious, the success of the Discovery in the U.K. and near doubling of the Land Rover brand worldwide, LNRA is seeking to become the â€Å"world’s premier 4x4 specialty company† through effective brand, product and retail strategies. LNRA’s success hinges on making the correct positioning, marketing mix and retailing decisions. II. Problems and Recommendations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  LRNA needs to determine a positioning strategy for the Discovery and itself in North America to entice its two distinct target markets. LRNA is aware that it has two distinct target markets whose purchasing decisions are impacted by various drivers but also knows that factors such as quality, safety, reliability, comfort, off-road capability and aesthetics overlap. When compared with other SUVs or SUV alternatives, we believe the following differences should be highlighted to develop a distinctive niche for the Discovery and Land Rover brand in the target audience’s mind. The Discovery and Land Rover brand should be positioned as luxury car alternatives with rich histories and superb off-road capabilities designed for the crà ¨me-de-la-crà ¨me of consumers: affluent, intelligent, practical, unique, full of character, and seeking to empower themselves through adventure and exploration during their driving experiences. The Discovery and Land Rover brand sho uld, in effect, convey the following message: you are what you drive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  LRNA must also determine what marketing mix to utilize and how much of its marketing budget should be allocated to each media strategy. First, we would advocate increasing the marketing budget to approximately $30 million to better position LRNA against our competitors. Since our target consumers are educated, married males in the 35-64 age group with annual incomes of $100K or above, we would suggest allocating sixty percent of our budget to advertising through television and print ads with a 65-35 split between the two. Ads should present the dual nature of the Discovery and Land Rover brand as rugged, exciting, but safe vehicles equally adept at handling the challenge of the jungles of Madagascar and the challenge of the city highway with your children onboard. Print ads would be placed in business and news magazines as well as national newspapers such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Washington Post.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Gaming in Shanghai Essay

Overview HyperHawk, one of the world’s major providers of global supply management software and services, helps companies reduce costs through efficient product and services sourcing. It has handled more than $50 billion worth of products and services in the oil and gas, other natural resources, retail, transport, finance, and industrial sectors for customers including General Motors, Nestlà ©, Shell, Japan Energy, Mitsubishi, and Cadbury Schweppes. Shanghai-based JJM, one of the biggest gaming and hospitality companies in Asia, is owned by Chinese businessman Tan Wu Bo. This case study revolves around the period when JJM has been a HyperHawk client for six months, and the companies have signed an agreement to conducttwo projects. The first, completed in March 2005 and tremendously successful, saved JJM some $1 million, and the second one is set to start.Impressed with the results, JJM wishes to explore the possibility of other joint endeavours with HyperHawk. To this end, a meeting is arranged between JJM’s Senior Vice-President of Finance Iris Ma and HyperHawk’s RegionalManaging DirectorDrake Dubois, and attended by JJM’s Vice-President for Procurement Henry Chow and HyperHawk Sales Group Director Layton Pang. Ma is keen to explore more projects with HyperHawk and has tasked Chow to follow up with HyperHawk as soon as possible. The managing director of HyperHawk suggests that a session be arranged with key stakeholders from both companies to discuss and assess possible opportunities for other JJM projects. The Scene Ma and Chow agreed to the suggestion and asked that a proposal be submitted to JJM after the opportunity assessment meeting that was attended by Chow, his assistant Mary Xie, who is also the purchasing manager, and two members from HyperHawk. Both parties identified ten possible projects. Xie asked for a proposal to be submitted to JJM through her, and HyperHawk provided a competitive price package that included services over a twelve-month period. As is to be expected from a Chinese company like JJM, Xie asked for a reduction in the licensing fee, additional program management days (at no extra cost), and an extension of the software term from twelve months to  twenty-four months. In reply, HyperHawk put in writing its discussions to date with JJM: 1.JJM had agreed that HyperHawk could add value to the projects identified. 2.JJM would sign for a ten-project package to get a competitive price. 3.If HyperHawk could meet JJM’s demands, the latter would sign the contract by May-end 2005. Xie agreed to point one above, but was noncommittal on points two and three. After much discussion, HyperHawk agreed to lower its fee and provide JJM additional program management days at no additional cost. However, HyperHawk said it could not agree to extend the twelve month term for use of the software without charging extra. Then, to complicate matters further, Xie suggested that JJM could not commit to an agreement even if all the issues were resolved. The most recent negotiations were conducted quite hastily, since HyperHawk knew that Xie was not the decision maker and approval had to come from her top management. Negotiations to Date HyperHawk’sprimary concern was how likely JJM would be to enter into an agreement even if the issues were resolved, and within what time frame. JJM argued that the proposed price was beyond what it could afford, although it recognized the need for help from HyperHawk to implement the projects, and that it needed twenty-four months to implement the ten projects due to its lack of manpower. HyperHawk took the position that, while it was prepared to look into the fee structure and program management term as part of the total package, the request for twenty-four months was not reasonable. Although it reasoned that other organizations were able to implement ten projects in twelve months, to satisfy JJM, HyperHawk negotiated a mid-way solution: a maximum of eighteen months. When one week passed and there was no response from JJM, HyperHawk asked if it would be prepared to sign if HyperHawk acceded to its three requests.Xie replied that she would submit the proposal for approval to her superiors, Tan and Ma, but added that there was no guarantee the agreement would be signed by the end of May. From HyperHawk’s perspective, all the issues presented by JJM had been resolved—yet there was still no deal. When asked about the status of the project, JJM cited staff turnover, but then mentioned another possible IT project where there was a clear need for HyperHawk. The discussion ended with JJM requesting that HyperHawk prepare the preliminary work and submit yet another proposal.  Based on the updated information, it appeared that the IT project might get underway earlier than the previously proposed ten projects. Moreover, given that this project had an entirely different scope, there was a strong argument to negotiate a separate deal for it. Whichever proposal JJM wished to undertake first, HyperHawk was ready to negotiate and finalize an agreement, but it could not yet tell whether the latest development was a genuine project or a further stalling tactic. Observations 1.Both parties acted rationally in the way the negotiations were conducted, and it helped that the relationship between them was excellent from the start. 2.HyperHawk gave in to JJMs demands in the hope of concluding the agreement quickly and starting the projects. But JJM continued to indulge in last minute wavering and only introduced a new project, which took the parties away from the initial negotiations. 3.The way HyperHawk responded to JJM’s delaying tactics, showed it’s patience and its determination to get the deal done. 4.Meanwhile, JJM believed it was negotiating from a position of strength, having even gone so far as to assert that it had in-house a system similar to that of HyperHawk that could probably fulfil its needs, even though without the sophistication of the HyperHawk product. 5.Going forward, it was critical that HyperHawk engage with Ma, the senior vice-president and decision maker, since the groundwork had been laid with her staff. But they were finding it difficult to do so due to the complicated hierarchy of the Chinese companies. 6.HyperHawk reflected that maybe it should have asked for the agreement to be signed within a fixed time when it met JJM’s initial demands, although JJM had previously delayed decision making on other projects. Conclusions This case is typical of what vendors face in a competitive, hi-tech environment, and illustrates the opportunity they have to reduce their price. Handled appropriately, a win-win outcome is not difficult to achieve. From this case study, at least two scenarios for short-term success can be derived. First, assuming the vendor, is taking a tough stance, you can take a long-term perspective and conclude the first sale with a friendly, competitive attitude, countering the buyer’s demands with suitable offers, while never losing sight of your determination to bag the order. But,  besides showing friendliness, flexibility, and determination, you must show the potential buyer that you will be there for them over the long haul. For this you require people with leadership qualities in your team. Should one lack high-quality leaders in your team, you have the option of a second scenario. In this case, you would show, right from the beginning,that your team comprises hard workers who w ill do whatever the buyer needs. By adopting Chinese-style service orientation and dedication and making your team indispensable to the potential buyer, being available daily, and making yourself virtually a part of your opposite number’s staff—you could clinch a deal. HyperHawk failed to show the requisite service orientation and commitment. From the perspective of longer-term success, an initial achievement provides the opportunity for friendship to be cultivated with the client company’s key people, perhaps even with the CEO, the final decision maker. Should one eventually become accepted as â€Å"family,† the client will telephone you for what they want and no longer require competitive quotations. But to reach that point, you will have had to develop a genuine friendship and service orientation with those at the top of the client company.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

A Profile of Photographer Zana Briski, Director of Born Into Brothels

A Profile of Photographer Zana Briski, Director of Born Into Brothels In the late 1990s, Zana Briski, a London-born Cambridge University theology student turned photographer, ventured to India to document, as she puts it, the particular hells that women can go through - sex selective abortion, dowry deaths, the treatment of widows, child marriages. It was never her intention, she says, to photograph prostitutes - until, that is, she was introduced to Sonagachi, the red light district of Calcutta. When I entered the red-light district I had a very strong feeling of recognition and I knew that this was why I had come to India, she says in an e-mail interview. I spent two years gaining access - it took me that long to be offered a room in a brothel so I could live there. I photographed the women when conditions allowed and spent day after day just hanging around, watching, listening. Fate took yet another turn when Briski began interacting with the children of the prostitutes. I would play with the children and let them use my camera. They wanted to learn photography - that was their idea not mine. So I bought point-and-shoot film cameras and chose several kids who were most eager and committed and started to teach them in formal classes, she says. From the very first class, she adds, I knew something special was happening and that I needed to film what was going on. I had never picked up a video camera before, but I bought one and started filming as I was teaching the kids and living in the brothel. Eventually Briski persuaded her friend, filmmaker Ross Kauffman, to join her in India. Over the next two years the pair documented Briskis efforts not just to teach the children photography, but to get them into good schools where they might have a chance at a more hopeful future. The result was Born Into Brothels, a gritty and poignant account of Briskis time with the red-light kids of Calcutta, as they came to be known. At turns joyous and heartbreaking, the film focuses on eight of the kids in particular, including Kochi, a painfully shy girl who almost certainly faces a life in prostitution unless she can escape the poverty and despair of Sonagachi and gain admission to a boarding school; and Avijit, the most gifted of Briskis students who nonetheless nearly gives up on photography after his mother is murdered. With the kind of eloquence that comes only from children, Avijit tells an interviewer early in the film, there is nothing called hope in my future. Shot on a shoestring budget, in a setting light years from Hollywood, Brothels might have languished in obscurity. But the film not only garnered raves from critics; it won the 2004 Academy Award for best documentary feature. Meanwhile, a book of the childrens photos was published and Briski set up a foundation, Kids With Cameras, to help pay for their schooling. Sadly, fairy-tale endings are all-too rare. Even with funding and encouragement not all of the red light kids, now young adults, have fared well in the intervening years. Briski confirmed a BBC report that one of the girls featured in the film later became a prostitute. She did so by choice and I respect her choice, Briski says. I dont consider that a failure or a shame. I trust she knows what is best for her. But many of the other children did go on to school in India, some even in the United States. Briski said Kochi studied at a prestigious school in Utah for several years before returning to India to finish her education. And recently Avijit, the child prodigy in Brothels, graduated from NYUs film school. Amazing, Briski says. I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished. Most people, having won an Oscar for their very first film, might be expected to continue on that path. But Briski felt pulled to return to her first love, photography, and a project called Reverence, in which she photographs insects around the world. Asked why she chose not to continue with filmmaking, Briski, 45, says even after winning an Oscar I do not consider myself to be a documentary filmmaker or a journalist. I move through the world in an open way and I respond to what is around me. Born Into Brothels and Kids With Cameras were not planned in any way. They were a response to what I discovered in the world. Photography is my medium, she adds. I am a traditional black-and-white photographer and I still shoot film and work in the darkroom. Reverence, Briski says, came to her through dreams of a praying mantis. The experience was so strong that I had to pay attention. Strange praying mantis coincidences would happen and I began to follow the clues - clues that have taken her to 18 countries to photograph and film mantids and other insects over the past seven years. Currently shes photographing jaguars in Brazil. If all goes as planned, the culmination of Briskis work will be a traveling museum with large-scale photographs, film and music. The project, which Briski hopes to open when she receives enough funding, is about respect of all life forms and changing our point of view. Not so different, she adds, from what I did in the brothels - bringing attention to those who are feared, ignored, abused, from their point of view.