Importance Of Ecumenical Developments And Interfaith Dialogue Religion Essay

Importance Of Ecumenical Developments And Interfaith Dialogue Religion Essay The importance of ecumenical developments and interfaith dialogue in Australia is of significant meaning. Ecumenical development and interfaith dialogue impact religious multi-faith dialogue in Australia greatly. These dialogues have allowed other religions to communicate peacefully with one another and variants within Christianity to work together. The development of ecumenism in Australia is present through organizations such as the National Council of Churches Australia. In Australia the National Council of Churches is an ecumenical organization that brings together a number of Australias Christian Churches in dialogue and practical cooperation. The NCCA reflects ecumenical development as it promotes the importance of community coming together. This organisation joins with all Australians to convey their concern for the Australian communities. A very recent case of the NCCA showing their concern is for the people affected by the floods in Queensland. This organisation clearly demonstrates the importance of ecumenical development as it shows the unity of all Christian groups working towards peace. Another example promoting ecumenical development is the NSW Ecumenical Council. The council is made up of sixteen Christian churches through New South Whales and the Australian Capital Territory and follows three major beliefs. The NSW Ecumenical Council was established to be the instrument through which the churches seek to be faithful to their ecumenical calling and commitment. The council allows ecumenism to develop as it keeps the faith of Christ alive by following its major principles. The Ecumenical Council is a large part of the development as it encourages society to work together. The council helps organize and support a large range of gatherings and activities during the year to promote Christian unity and to help Christianity grow together as one. The Uniting Church is another example of ecumenical development as three churches came together and became one. It is a multicultural church, determined to treat people on an equal basis and to give a voice to the poor and the needy. The role of the church is to stand with the people, and to care for spiritual, social and educational growth. The Uniting Church is an example of ecumenical development as it helps all members of the multicultural community develop and help all with their problems. This is important as it helps the Christian community grow and teach people to treat others equally. All these organizations function to achieve the same outcome; to achieve the unity of Christianity. The councils and the church all work to serve the community. Without organizations practicing ecumenical development, Christianity will not be able to work together as one whole religious tradition. As well as ecumenical development in Australia, interfaith dialogue in Australia is of great importance. Interfaith dialogue is the interaction between different religions. Religious traditions all over Australia have come together and built relationships through interfaith dialogue organizations. This dialogue has brought together religions and helped one another communicate. Interfaith dialogue organisations seek unity and to promote harmonious living ways with all people regardless of their religion. The Australian National Dialogue of Christians, Muslims, and Jews are an interfaith dialogue organization. Its purpose is to provide opportunity for the national bodies of each faith to come together to build understanding and harmony in the Australian context. This organization is of great importance for interfaith dialogue in Australia as it teaches all people to live in harmony together. The Australian National Dialogue of Christians, Muslims, and Jews also aims to work together with the community and to teach others from different faiths and communities to work together in order to achieve their goals. Interfaith dialogue in Australia has been able to grow and become a very important part of Australian life through organisations. The Sikh Interfaith Council of Victoria is a non-profit organization, with an image to create greater awareness of Sikhs and Sikhism in the Australian community. The importance of this group in respect to interfaith dialogue also, is without it Sikhism would not have been able to build a network relationship with other religions. As a result of this organization interfaith in Australia between various religious traditions has been able to grow with one another. Living in harmony is not the only concern of the interfaith dialogue organisations. They are also concerned with the preservation and protection of the environment. Greenfaith Australia in Melbourne is an interfaith organisation that was established to bring together people from different faiths in responding to environmental issues. The actions of this group for interfaith dialogue are of great importance in Australia, as they are saving the world for our future generations to grow up in a healthy environment. Overall Ecumenical development and interfaith dialogue in Australia is of great importance. Without these, various religious traditions would not be able to communicate and work together in Australia. These issues have been taken seriously and organizations have been developed in order to make sure that all religions grow together in order to live in a better world and justice is received by all.

The Japanes Tsunami Disaster

On March 11th 2011 at 2:48pm a magnitude 9 earthquake occurred lasting a record time of 5 minutes until 2:53pm. This awful event occurred in the country of Japan in Asia, east of china, south of Russia and lies on the Pacific Ocean. Then 20 minutes later a tsunami hit Ofunato and then followed by Sedai and Niyko. There were lots more area affected by the tsunami. Causes The tsunami that hit Japan was a series of water that became many waves that built up by travelling along the Pacific Ocean, gradually gathering up speed. By the time it hit Ofunato it was as fast as a jet engine and going 800 kph. This tsunami happened because of the pacific tectonic plate subducted the Asian tectonic plate and caused an upwards wave to start and increase in length and it caused a massive tsunami to hit Japan. Japan had a massive tsunami hit them because of the magnitude 9 earthquake (a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves) that hit them first, which caused the pacific tectonic plate subducted the Asian tectonic plate and created a flood of water to go in to the fault line and cause it to build up pressure and heat up. Then the water sprung up in to a travelling along the Pacific Ocean causing a tsunami, this caused over 15,000 deaths, 6,000 injured and 4,000 missing. Another cause of the tragic tsunami was that it gained an extra metre in height because the coast line dropped a metre; this was one of the effects of the earthquake. Social effects The effects on people were that there houses had fallen down and many were homeless. The disaster caused falling birth rates, some mothers and children were forced to move to other towns and cities, even 200-300 miles away from their broken homes. Buildings were shaking, lights flickering; they crumbled down in front of the people inside them. Bridges were in pieces, shaken and broken by the earthquake and tsunami. The people in Japan were in a horror film. Their families were broken, torn apart by 7 metre high waves. At least 170,000 households were running without any water said by the health ministry. Up to 47,000 building were destroyed, washed away or burnt down, the national police agency of Japan said. A total of 164,059 households in the north were without electricity, tohoku electric power co said. You can read also Waves Economic effects The tsunami caused a large negative impact on the economy of Japan but lesser effect on world trade and financial markets. Japan has lost considerable physical damage estimated to be from $195 billion to as much as $305 billion. The negative effects of the earthquake and tsunami caused a potential nuclear disaster. Only 150 miles from Tokyo, radiation leaked from a nuclear plant crippled by an explosion. Although it wasn’t at the same scale of Chernobyl, but 170,000 people were evacuated. Another economic effect is that hundreds of factories were shut across Japan and the country was pushed in to recession. Nissan and Toyota had to halt production at all 20 factories. Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, evacuated workers from two plants in the worst affected regions. The plants make up to 420,000 small cars each year, mostly for export. Environmental effects The effects the tsunami had on japans environment was that were lots of debris everywhere because the tsunami had picked up everything in its way when it hit Japan and when it had stopped all the debris was left on the ground leaving lots of mess. All the debris that was on the floor meant it was harder to find missing people. The tsunami also carried lots of dead fish and animals habitats would have been damaged because of the water. The fish were all dead in the tsunami due to the fact that the Pacific Ocean contaminated because of the radiation of the nuclear plant explosion. This also meant that any birds wouldn’t have been able to feed or they would have died eating contaminated fish. The smell also would have been unbearable to cope with because of the amount of dead fish and bodies and debris carried by the tsunami. Liquefaction during the earthquake as well, this would have left big cracks in the concert and some water may of septet up through the cracks. Short term responses After the tsunami occurred everyone immediately tried to help the injured get to a safe placed so they could be helped. Fire engines and ambulances were there to help and to rescue people from the debris. There were lots of people injured and dead so that when the people were being searched for by people of Japan to save time if a person was dead under the debris they would have put down a flag so they could go on and search for people that were alive and could be saved. Then later they would have gone back to the body and they would have moved it. Everyone hurt by the tsunami/earthquake got medical care by the other helping countries wanting to help. China was one of the 91 countries that helped Japan as soon as possible by providing $4.5 million worth of humanitarian aid. Their first shipment was from Shanghai to Tokyo. It contained 2,000 blankets, 900 tents and 200 emergency lights to help Japan get through the tragic amount of injured people. Seventeen Latin American countries, including Honduras, Ecuador and Brazil, and four African states – Djibouti, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia had also offered assistance. The mayor of Kandahar city in Afghanistan pledged $50,000 to support relief efforts. The World Bank, Unicef, Unesco and the Office for t he Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs were among the international organisations pledging support. Other responses were that they were lots of tents and shelters put up for people to stay safe because their houses would have been crushed by the tsunami or fall because of the magnitude 9 earthquake. In the shelters, the people got free food and water to keep them alive. Almost everywhere there was no gas or electricity because of the impact of the tsunami. All they could us were emergency lights and torches to see. Products in Japan went up because lots of stock was ruined or damaged and it was a struggle to get stock from other countries or cities because the expressway fell down and transport-roads were blocked. Some charities also help the tsunami victims such as architecture for humanity helped by fundraising and giving all the money they made to Japan to help the people that were made homeless or that were unemployed because their workplace might have been hit. Save the Children meet the needs of children and their families affected by the tsunami, whilst Christian Aid’s partners in the Philippines helped to evacuate the most vulnerable coastal communities. People living in these communities had been warned to prepare for a tsunami wave at least one metre high along the east coast. Partners of the British Red Cross in Japan, America and the Philippines worked alongside the emergency services to support victims and evacuate high risk areas. Long term responses General recovery efforts progressed, super markets gradually reopened, gas stations in northern Japan resumed business, and roads were accessible. The Japanese government significantly supported the country’s relief efforts and provided much of the needed temporary housing. Everything that was rebuilt in Japan however it cost them 25tn yen which actuates to  £189bn. Schools were rebuilt and teachers were provided so the children could get an education. Conclusion In my opinion, I think that the Japan tsunami was a disaster because of the impact that it caused to the people (such as the deaths), the environment (dead animals, liquefaction, amount of debris needed to be cleaned up) and the amount of money that it cost them. The amount of deaths that the tsunami caused was devastating, the amount of missing people and pain that the tsunami caused families. It was an awful event that caused pain to everyone and cost lots of money. I think to stopped this happening to Japan again they should build a bigger wall on the coast to protect them or even buy tsunami capsules from all households even though they are expensive it would help and save the life’s of many if it occurred again.

Negotiating with Learners

Negotiating with learners, e. g. initial assessment, agreeing goals and actions Initial assessment is the beginning of a teacher/learner relationship, allowing the teacher to identify and discover learners with difficulties and disabilities if the learner is confident to talk about them. By recording this information, plans towards teaching can be made so every learner feels included and progress in their learning experience.The information will determine the learners starting point; the learners may already have skills and knowledge that relate to the subject taken, the teacher can also identify Literacy, Language, Numeracy and ICT that may be applicable. Assessment should not be something that is done to somebody. The learner must be involved and feel part of the process. Lesley Thom (2001 p13) All learners will want to achieve and have something to aim for. Learning goals can be negotiated and agreed.If working towards a qualification the awarding body or examining board will have a program in which to follow so the teacher will know what to teach and learner knowing what they will learn, from these targets and goals can be negotiated and agreed. Within the teacher/learner relationship, working together realistic goals and targets can be agreed and their progress assessed and recorded: Overall goals are long term which is the whole program. With aims and objectives/outcomes are usually established.Specific goals are short term which determines changes in the learner’s skills, knowledge understanding and attitudes. The learning process is effective and the goals clear and match the requirements of the learner. Immediate goals break down the specific goals into manageable tasks in the order that they are achieved. Ann Gravells & Susan Simpson (2008) Agreeing targets should be SMART (Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound) www. ifl. co. k Learners should be encouraged to take charge of their goals and learning journey, this enables l earners to become independent. When goals are set and assessed they should be recorded, all information that is recorded should be part of a plan-ILP (individual learning plan) Learning targets should be both verbal and written to ensure the learner has understood fully, learners should know their own strengths and where they can develop improvements to their skills. When setting targets, regular tutorials and review sessions and keeping the ILP up to date with learners.

10 Ways to Promote Self-Directed Classroom

Effective elementary teachers promote a self-directed classroom so that their students know if they cannot solve a problem or figure out an answer then they will have the tools to do it themselves. Here are 10 tips to help you promote a classroom where your students are self-reliant, as well as self-confident and feel that they can do anything on their own. Promote an â€Å"I Can† Attitude Teaching your students how to overcome disappointment is one of the best lessons that you can ever teach them in their life. When students face disappointment, teach them to analyze it and look at the big picture. Teach them to talk about how it feels so that they can move past it. Instilling an â€Å"I can† attitude will help them know and understand that they can do anything. Allow Student to Fail Failing is usually never an option in school. However, in today’s society, it just may be the answer to getting our children to be independent. When a student is practicing balancing on a beam or they are in a yoga position and they fall down, don’t they usually get back up and try one more time, or until they get it? When a child is playing a video game and their character dies, don’t they keep playing until they get to the end? Failure can be the pathway to something much bigger. As teachers, we can give students room to fail, and allow them to learn to pick themselves up and give it another try. Give your students a chance to make a mistake, allow them to struggle and let them know that it is okay to fail just as long as they get back up and try again. Study Leaders and Role Models Take time out of your busy curriculum to study leaders and role models who persevered. Study people like Bethany Hamilton who got her arm bitten off in a shark attack, but continued to compete in surfing competitions. Find a real-world example of perseverance that will help your students understand that people fail and go through hard times, but if they pick themselves up and try again, they can do anything. Get Students to Believe in Themselves Give students positive affirmations that they can do anything they put their mind to. Let’s say that one of your students is failing one of their subjects. Instead of telling them that there’s a chance that they will fail, build them up and tell them that you know that they can do it. If the student sees that you believe in their abilities, then they will soon believe in themselves too. Teach Students to Pull Themselves Out of a Negative Mindset If you want a classroom where your students are self-directed learners then you must get rid of the negative thoughts and beliefs that are in their head. Teach students to see that their negative thoughts are only holding them back from where they need to be or want to go. So then, the next time your students find themselves in a negative mindset, they will be able to pull themselves out of it all by themselves and be mindful of their actions and thoughts. Give Current and Frequent Feedback Try giving students feedback as soon as possible, this way your words will resonate with them, and they will be more willing to make changes if needed. By giving immediate feedback then your students will have the opportunity to implement your suggestions right away and make the changes they need in order to be a self-directed learner. Bolster Students Confidence Bolster your students’ confidence by discussing their strengths and their abilities with them. Find something about each and every student that you can celebrate, this will help boost their confidence. Confidence building is a known way to increase students’ self-assurance and make them feel more independent. Isn’t that what a self-directed learner is? Teach Students How to Manage their Goals In order to promote a self-directed classroom where students are self-reliant then you must teach them how to manage their own goals. You can begin by helping students set small, achievable goals that can be achieved fairly quickly. This will help them understand the process of setting and achieving a goal. Once students grasp this concept, then you can have them set more long term goals. Learn Something New Together To help cultivate a classroom where students learn independence then try learning something new together as a class. Students will learn by observing the way you learn. They will watch you learn through your techniques, which will help them get ideas on how they can do it on their own. Give Your Students a Voice Your classroom should set the stage for students to feel comfortable enough to have a voice. Make your classroom environment a place where students are free to speak their minds. This will not only make them feel more empowered, but also help them feel like they are part of a classroom community, which will help bolster their self-confidence, and in turn, help them become more independent learners.