Ella Baker, the Grassroots Civil Rights Organizer

Ella Baker was a tireless fighter for the social equality of African-Americans. Whether Baker was supporting local branches of the NAACP, working behind the scenes to establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with Martin Luther King Jr.,  or  mentoring college students through the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), she was always working to push the agenda of the Civil Rights Movement forward.   One of her most famous quotes encapsulates the meaning of her work as a professional grassroots organizer, This may only be a dream of mine, but I think it can be made real. Early Life and Education Born on December 13, 1903, in Norfolk, Va., Ella Jo Baker grew up listening to stories about her grandmothers experiences as a former slave. Bakers grandmother vividly described how slaves rebelled against their owners. These stories laid the foundation for Bakers desire to be a social activist.   Baker attended Shaw University. While attending Shaw University, she began challenging policies established by the school administration. This was Bakers first taste of activism. She graduated in 1927 as valedictorian.   New York City Following her college graduation, Baker moved to New York City. Baker joined the editorial staff of the American West Indian News and later the Negro National News. Baker became a member of the Young Negroes Cooperative League (YNCL). Writer George Schuyler established the YNCL. Baker would serve as the organizations national director, helping African-Americans build economic and political solidarity. Throughout the 1930s, Baker worked for the Workers Education Project, an agency under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Baker taught classes concerning labor history, African history, and consumer education. She also dedicated her time to actively protesting against social injustices such as Italys invasion of Ethiopia and the Scottsboro Boys case in Alabama. Organizer of the Civil Rights Movement In 1940, Baker began working with local chapters of the NAACP. For fifteen years Baker served as a field secretary and later as director of branches. In 1955, Baker was influenced greatly by the Montgomery Bus Boycott and established In Friendship, an organization that raised funds to fight Jim Crow Laws. Two years later, Baker moved to Atlanta to help Martin Luther King Jr. organize the SCLC. Baker continued her focus on grassroots organizing by running Crusade for Citizenship, a voter registration campaign. By 1960, Baker was assisting young African-American college students in their growth as activists. Inspired by students from North Carolina A T who refused to get up from a Woolworth lunch counter, Baker returned to Shaw University in April 1960. Once at Shaw, Baker helped students participate in the sit-ins. Out of Bakers mentorship, SNCC was established. Partnering with members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), SNCC helped organize the 1961 Freedom Rides. By 1964, with the assistance of Baker, SNCC and CORE organized Freedom Summer to register African-Americans to vote in Mississippi and also, to expose the racism existing in the state. Baker also helped establish  the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). MFDP was a mixed raced organization that gave people not represented in the Mississippi Democratic Party an opportunity to have their voices heard. Although the MFDP was never given a chance to sit at the Democratic Convention, the work of this organization helped to revise a rule allowing women and people of color to sit as delegates at the Democratic Convention. Retirement and Death Up until her death in 1986, Baker remained an activist—fighting for social and political justice not only in the United States but the world.

Abraham Lincoln and the Fourth Estate The White House and...

In â€Å"Abraham Lincoln and the Fourth Estate: The White House and the Press during the American Civil War† Richard Carwardine discusses the incredible increase in the Press’ contribution to the American Civil War. Carwardine explains Abraham Lincoln’s role with the media and his use of newspapers as political weaponry from before the election and into his presidency. This topic is significant because it illustrates Abraham Lincoln’s intelligence and strengths as a president during the Civil War. The article gives insight to how Lincoln may have been as successful as he was during his presidency. Also, no previous political leader had had the task of managing an administration in a mass democracy where over a million of its citizens were†¦show more content†¦In Roman numeral VI Carwardine concludes his article and wraps up with the influences of Lincoln’s victory in the 1864 election. All of which contribute to Lincoln’s intelligen t use of the media. Carwardine uses several primary and secondary sources. He uses obvious primary sources such as the Emancipation Proclamation and several quotes from Abraham Lincoln himself. These sources make the article more interesting by getting to read exactly what Abraham Lincoln said. However, Carwardine mainly uses secondary sources in his article such as autobiographies, various books, and news articles dealing with Abraham Lincoln. He quotes several news articles from during the Civil War time period. The use of these quotes made the article more interesting, and gave a direct idea of what was being said in the press during that time. Overall, I believe that â€Å"Abraham Lincoln and the Fourth Estate: The White House and the Press during the American Civil War† was a successful article. Richard Carwardine accomplishes covering everything that is mentioned in his thesis, and informs the reader of Abraham Lincoln and his relationship with the media. Which is a topic that I didn’t know very much about. Richard Carwardine successfully discusses Abraham Lincolns understanding of newspapers, his relationship with editorial corps, and his use of newspapers as a political weapon. I

Organizational Learning free essay sample

All correspondence please via Shabi. Lecturers Coordinator and lecturer Dr. Marius Rietdijk, assistant professor Strategisch management and behavioral change, management consultant, co-author Slag om de toekomst; director. Martien van Winden MBA, management consultant, director Hoofbosch Investment Fund, former head investment Robeco Germany, France and USA, co-author Slag om de toekomst; Drs. Renate Kenter, De Ruijter Management, Consultancy firm Scenarioplanning; Prof. ir. Kees van der Heijden, pioneer Scenarioplanning at Royal Dutch Shell, professor Strategic management Oxford University, author of Scenarios, the art of strategic conversation, boardroom consultant for large companies around the globe. Introduction This course provides the state of the art in the scientific field of Strategic management and the professional application in Scenario planning. Scenario planning provides tools for helping organizations to develop a deeper understanding of the longer-term business environment and its impact on their business model. The course builds upon the course Strategy and Environment in block 1 year 2. After extensively studying theories, this time you will have the opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills on a real life organization. In the books and lectures you will get acquainted with different strategy schools and the scientific background of Scenario planning. Simultaneously you will be trained in applying this approach in coaching a board of directors in strategy formulation and implementation. As you are a third year student, the expectations are high. The knowledge of strategy and management will be deepened, and you will demonstrate your strategic management skills in real life. Learning objectives This course has two objectives. The first objective is to observe and analyze the strategic behavior of firms from a scientific perspective. To this end, you will be exposed to scientific research into the strategic management phenomena. We will especially focus on the Organizational Learning approach. After this course, you will be able to: †¢ Describe the main approaches within current research on strategic management; †¢ Discuss the theoretical value of scenario planning †¢ Discuss the value of knowledge and capabilities for the strategy of firms; †¢ Explain whether strategic management should best be viewed as a learning or a planning exercise; The second learning objective is to apply professionally the scenario planning method as described by (the book of) Van der Heijden. After following this course, you will be able to: †¢ Analyze the business model (succes formula) of a certain organization of your own choosing; †¢ Describe the contextual and transactional environment of that organization; †¢ Generate options for scenario dimensions, make an informed choice of two of these dimensions, and describe four even probable scenarios; †¢ Test the current business idea of the firm in relation to four possible futures (‘windtunneling’); †¢ Formulate a managerial advice regarding the adaptation of the business idea based on the scenario planning exercise. Number of participants Because of the large number of participants in this course, it is not possible to give much feedback for the group reports. We hope you have consideration for this. As long as you follow the rules as described in this course manual, a satisfactory mark is within reach. Course Content Theory and Practice of the Scenario Planning method Credits Strategic Management and the Strategy Process: 6 ECT (=160 hours) Program Make sure you are present at all the classes. At minimum one of the six questions at the exam will be from the classes. The art of strategic conversation. Chichester: Wiley (obligatory for all students); †¢ Rietdijk, M. M. Van Winden (2003). Slag om de toekomst. Bedrijfsstrategieen voor goede en slechte tijden. Amsterdam: Balans (recommended for dutch students, if still available). Structure Guest) lectures + Group Project Group formation process During the break of first lecture, you will form a group of totally three or four members (not more). Please send the names of the members together with an invented group name as soon as possible to s. [emailprotected] vu. nl. Within two weeks every group has to send a project proposal to the same email address (see project proposal under section Dates and deadlines below). Therefore you must soon start finding a suitable organization. Fortunately, this was never a problem in former years. During the breaks of the lectures, there is a ‘market’ for forming a group. Group projects You will form a group with at maximum 4 members. You will demonstrate your scenario planning skill by formulating a strategic plan for an organization. The organization preferably belongs to one of the business service sectors (consultancy industry; finance, banking and insurance; e-business and ICT-consultancy; transport, distribution and logistics), but this is not a requirement. Next to these for-profit corporations (parts of) the VU may be chosen as a ‘corporation’. Groups that manage to act as strategic consultants for a real life organization will be considered as excellent. Groups that are not able to find an organization are allowed to do a â€Å"paper case† (from internet). It is not necessary to find a board of directors or top management team. A division or department or small company is also allowed. We will work the options out in the following: Best option: Organizing sessions with a management team If you succeed with your group in motivating a management team of a small or medium sized organization for a few sessions with you, your mark will be avorably affected. In this case your team approaches an organization and asks if they are interested in a free strategic advice from experts. In order to achieve this, the following recommendations will be made: (Representatives of) your group will ask some questions to (representatives of) the management team. Follow at least some of the steps of chapter 9 of the book of Van der Heijde n. The research will result in a report that consists of the following parts (to be derived from the books): 1. Management summary 2. Theoretical framework . SWOT analysis with explanation 4. Describing your interpretation of the business idea of the organization 5. Description of the contextual and transactional environment 6. Generating options for scenario dimensions 7. Selecting two scenario dimensions out of the contextual environment 8. Description of four even probable scenario’s of the contextual environment with a minimum of one page each (you have to use your imagination, but consistently) 9. ‘Windtunneling’ the four scenario’s with the current business idea 10. Conclusions and recommendations for adapting the business idea towards the scenario’s and/or for entering new markets with the current business idea Number of pages: 30-40 Second best option: Designing a strategy for the Vrije Universiteit The second best option is to formulate a strategy for the VU. The result is a report of 30-40 pages for the board of directors of the VU in which the following points will be reflected: 1. Management summary 2. Theoretical framework 3. SWOT analysis with explanation 4. Describing your interpretation of the business idea of the VU 5. Describing its contextual and transactional environment 6. Generating options for scenario dimensions 7. Selecting two scenario dimensions out of the contextual environment. 8. Description of four even probable scenario’s for the VU (at least one page each) 9. ‘Windtunneling’ the four scenario’s with the current business idea 10. Conclusions and recommendations for adapting the business idea towards the scenario’s and/or for entering new markets We will ask a member of the board of the VU to answer questions of students during the lectures. The reports will be offered to the board of directors of the VU. Third best option: Designing a strategy for a real life organization without being a consultant For this option your group formulates a strategy for a corporation researchable from the media and its own publications (including website). The report has the same structure as the other two options, although there will, inevitably, be a lot more guesswork in it. Students will have to compensate for their ‘guesswork’ by a thorough analysis of the environment of the company of their choice. Methods of Assessment †¢ Group paper (Scenario report) (50% of grade); Formal written examination (50%): Consists of multiple choice questions about the book of Van der Heijden and the (guest) lectures as well. About 15% of the questions will be about the guest lectures;

Scaffolding as a Teaching Strategy free essay sample

In a chapter on scaffolding, Scaffolding for Success, Jamie McKenzie provides a visual image analogy of how scaffolding works, â€Å"The workers cleaning the face of the Washington Monument do not confuse the scaffolding with the monument itself. The scaffolding is secondary. The building is primary. † (McKenzie, 1999, Matters of Definition section, para. 6). He goes on to describe eight characteristics of scaffolding. The first six describe aspects of scaffolding instruction. The last two refer to outcomes resulting from scaffolding and are therefore presented in a later section of this paper. According to McKenzie scaffolding: 1. Provides clear direction and reduces students’ confusion – Educators anticipate problems that students might encounter and then develop step by step instructions, which explain what a student must do to meet expectations. 2. Clarifies purpose – Scaffolding helps students understand why they are doing the work and why it is important. 3. Keeps students on task – By providing structure, the scaffolded lesson or research project, provides pathways for the learners. We will write a custom essay sample on Scaffolding as a Teaching Strategy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The student can make decisions about which path to choose or what things to explore along the path but they cannot wander off of the path, which is the designated task. 4. Clarifies expectations and incorporates assessment and feedback – Expectations are clear from the beginning of the activity since examples of exemplary work, rubrics, and standards of excellence are shown to the students. 5. Points students to worthy sources – Educators provide sources to reduce confusion, frustration, and time. The students may then decide which of these sources to use. 6. Reduces uncertainty, surprise, and disappointment – Educators test their lessons to determine possible problem areas and then refine the lesson to eliminate difficulties so that learning is maximized (McKenzie, 1999). Scaffolded instruction is also employed in problem based learning environments. â€Å"Problem-based learning (PBL) is an educational approach that challenges students to learn to learn. † (Ngeow and Yoon, 2001, p. 1). In this type of classroom the teacher must assess the activities that the students can perform independently and what they must learn to complete the task. The teacher then, â€Å"†¦designs activities which offer just enough of a scaffold for students to overcome this gap in knowledge and skills. † (Ngeow and Yoon, 2001, p. 2). The authors also describe several of same scaffolding activities or characteristics that were presented by Bransford, Brown and Cocking and McKenzie thus illustrating scaffolding’s applicability to various educational settings. II. Scaffolding – Related Theory, Theorists, and Research Scaffolding instruction as a teaching strategy originates from Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and his concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). Lev Vygotsky was a Soviet psychologist whose works were surpressed after his death in the 1930s and were not discovered by the West until the late 1950s (â€Å"Lev Vygotsky’s archive,† n. d. ). His sociocultural theory proposes that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. (â€Å"Social Development Theory,† n. d. ). Vygotsky â€Å"†¦theorized that learning occurs through participation in social or culturally embedded experiences. † (Raymond, 2000, p. 176). In Vygotsky’s view, the learner does not learn in isolation.