Factors Related to Student’s Performance in Nat

Chapter I INTRODUCTION Background of the Study The National Achievement Test (NAT) is an examination given annually to assess the competency of both public and private school students. The students’ knowledge and skills are tested in the subjects of Mathematics, English, Science, Filipino, and HEKASI for grade school and Mathematics, English, Science, Filipino, and Araling Panlipunan for high school. The test is administered by the Department of Education's National Education Testing and Research Center (NETRC).The results are intended to guide the Department of Education in its efforts towards the improvement of the quality of education in public schools and to provide appropriate intervention for the students. A score of 75% and up indicates mastery of the subject and 50% to less than 75%, near mastery; while a score of below 50% indicates low mastery. The NAT results guide decision makers in formulating policies relative to progression and promotion of students, especially in the public school system. These will also determine the deficiencies of students that need further intervention. According to DepEd Secretary Brother Armin A.Luistro, NAT is just a part of the report card of DepEd and the whole education system. Results of this indicator will help them formulate appropriate interventions that aimed improvement of the education system. (Philippine Star, January 07, 2010) Calls for educational reforms to address the needs of students are frequent. Their focus has been primarily on the content — what students should learn, context — the circumstances students should be learning in, and outcomes — the knowledge and skills students should acquire. Important changes have come about as educational reform efforts focused on the needs of students.The researcher believes that the profile of the students and school climate conditions greatly affect the students’ performance in the National Achievement Test. Students may not only provide a rigid classroom instruction but the school must provide them a good physical environment, physical facilities that is free from risks and a well-sounded classroom instructions. Researchers will examine relationships between several variables and students’ performance. For students’ demographic profile those are age, gender, birth order, monthly income of the family, parents’ educational attainment, and average grade for the last school year attended.Secondly, the researcher will also examine the school climate condition that will carefully examine the school physical facilities, instructional focus and physical environment. Unfortunately, accompanying the calls for reform in school systems is an underlying assumption that the leadership needed to execute these changes will somehow emerge. The information will be useful to practitioners attempting to implement an educational innovation or a system wide change at the school or secondary level. In additio n, this information may be useful for professional development.The information might also be useful for the evaluation of school climate condition that may affect the students’ performance. This also helps administrators’ to carefully examine school rules and policies on executing the designed curriculum for each learning area. In addition, this may help the secondary schools in the Division of Calapan City to focus also in the school climate conditions. Finally, this paper attempts to raise awareness to internal and external stakeholders who wanted to promote educational transformation. Education literature has often pointed to the importance of student support services in promoting learning.This is usually true in the field of basic education. Unlike in the traditional education delivery, learners tested in national achievement must be given enough attention by teachers, stakeholders and the principal itself. Low rating result in NAT is often blamed to the basic educ ation services that were given to them and to the ability of the teachers. This is true in the eight (8) public secondary schools in the Division of Calapan City who could not achieve the 75% passing rate in the consecutive NAT test results for school for numerous years that the NAT was implemented.While there are lots of interventions to meet the national academic standard, best practices to improve NAT performance of second year students in the public secondary schools in the Division of Calapan City, there are comprehensive student support system developed and implemented in Calapan City Division. More importantly, the National Achievement Test is not just a test for students but also for the principal leadership skills that promotes a positive school climate condition that can affect the student’s academic performance.According to the Second Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (SERCE), in order to promote learning among students it is essential to provide a welcomi ng and warm environment based on mutual respect. In this line, there is a need to evaluate the level of profile of the students and school climate condition to assess the needs of the students. The purpose of this study is to identify the students’ profile in terms of age, gender, family income, parents’ educational attainment, and grades for the last school year attended.It also needs to identify the school climate condition that provides school to understand the working condition and leadership, instructional focus and physical environment. It will also investigate students’ perspective, questions concerning the school climate condition in response to the result of their National Achievement Test. The ultimate goal of this research is to aid the Public Secondary Schools in the Division of Calapan City for the improvement of students’ services academic program that would result to the increase of NAT against national standard. Statement of the ProblemThi s study aimed to determine the Factors Related toStudents’ Performance in the National Achievement Test in the Public Secondary Schools in the Division of Calapan City. Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of: 1. 1 age 1. 2 gender 1. 3parents’ educational attainment 1. 3. 1 mother 1. 3. 2 father 1. 4monthly income of the family 1. 5 average rating for the last school year attended? 2. What is the extent of the school climate conditions as perceived by student respondents in terms of: 2. school facilities 2. 2instructional focus 2. 3physical environment? 3. What is the level of performance of students in the National Achievement Test in the public secondary schools in the Division of Calapan City in: 3. 1English 3. 2Math 3. 3Science 3. 4AP 5. Filipino 4. Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and students’ achievement in NAT in terms of: 4. 1age 4. 2gender 4. 3parents’ educational attainment 4. 3. 1 mother 4. 3. 2 father 4. 4monthly income of the family 4. 5average rating for the last school year attended? 5.Is there a significant relationship between the school climate conditions and students’ performance in NAT as perceived by the student’ respondents in terms of: 5. 1 school facilities 5. 2 instructional focus 3. physical environment? 6. Is there a significant difference in the school climate conditions as perceived by student respondents in terms of: 6. 1school facilities 6. 2instructional focus 6. 3 physical environment? Hypotheses of the Study 1. There is no significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and students’ achievement in NAT in terms of: 1. age 1. 2gender 1. 3parents’ educational attainment 1. 3. 1 mother 1. 3. 2 father 1. 4monthly Income of the family 1. 5average rating for the last school year attended? 2. There is no significant relationship between the school c limate conditions and students’ performance in NAT in terms of: 2. 1 school facilities 2. 2 instructional focus 2. 3 physical environment? 3. There is no significant difference in the school climate conditions as perceived by student respondents in terms of: 3. 1school facilities 3. instructional focus 3. 3 physical environment? Significance of the Study Findings of this study provided vital information regarding the factors affecting the students’ performance in the National Achievement Test (NAT) in terms of students’ profile and school climate condition. The findings of this study will benefit the following: Superintendent. It may help the superintendent to identify the needs of the school and to plan for the support system that the school leaders need to prioritize when it comes to students’ performance.It can also identify the critical gaps and weaknesses of the nine public secondary schools in the division when it comes to students’ learning and school climate conditions. Principal. The result of this study may also serve as framework for various programs and strategies to be employed on the school improvement planning. School climate condition assessment may use as data inputs on the reality check matters of school academic performance. Thus, appropriate programs and thrusts may be formulated and provided with appropriate budget for the improvement of the students’ performance.It is also possible to have a rigid monitoring of monthly result of students’ mean percentage score (MPS) in their chapter test to be posted using graphical representation to easily identify the competencies that needs enough attention in classroom instruction. With the help of graphs, the principal can help and assist teachers in uplifting the performance of the students. Teachers. The result of this finding is of value to teachers because it will provide an overview of the needs analysis of the school.They may be guided from the l evel of assistance the school and the principal may need and may help them to work cooperatively in order for them to attain success in the national achievement test. By means of carefully recorded grades of the student, the teacher and principal can work collaboratively to identify the competencies the students had mastered, not mastered and needs mastery. With this, teachers can be guided to the lesson that he needs to give more emphasis for students. Students. The improvement of school climate condition will be beneficial for the students.A favorable school climate condition may serve as students’ motivation in improving their academic performance. The motivating factors that will start from the initiative of the school principal may help the students to be more enthusiastic in learning process. Future researchers. This study will help to encourage future researchers to conduct the most vital part of the school progress in terms of academic. The study may propel them to go into related area or they may study further school academic achievement for other perspective. This may also provide data bases for further innovation of this research study.Scope and Limitations of the Study This study answered the factors related to students’ performance in the national achievement test given last school year 2010-2011 in the eight (8) public secondary schools in the Division of Calapan City. The major task of this research is to answer the specific questions presented in the statement of the problem. This is limited to its complete reliance on the self-made questionnaire of the researcher as the primary instrument for answering the factors related to students’ performance in National Achievement Test in terms of students’ profile and school climate condition.The result of this study will be limited on the perception of 276 student respondents from the eight (8) public secondary schools in the Division of Calapan City namely; Bucayao National High School, Canubing National High School, Ceriaco A. Abes National High School, Community Vocational High School, Managpi National High School, Mamerta G. Tolentino National High School, Nag-Iba National High School and Pedro V. Panaligan National High School. Jose J. Leido Jr.Memorial National High School will not be included in the study because it dominates the number of student respondents in this study for, it is the biggest public high school in the Division of Calapan City. Definition of Terms To facilitate better understanding of this research, the following terms were defined conceptually and operationally: Age – refers to the respondents’ age in the public secondary schools in the Division of Calapan City. Average rating – refers to the average rating obtained by the student’ respondents in the last school year attended.Instructional Focus – refers to the classroom instruction offered and teachers’ competence in the delivery of instruction. Monthly Income – refers to the income or financial status of student respondent’s family that may affect performance in school. Parents’ Educational Attainment – refers to the educational status of parents both father and mother of student’ respondents. Physical Environment – refers to the condition of school building and its surrounding area, any biological or chemical agent that is detrimental to health and physical conditions, such as temperature, noise and lighting. Source: www. Wikipedia. org) School Climate Condition – refers to the health of the learning environment that it is a multi-dimensional influences to many individuals such as students, parents, school personnel, and the community(source: www. wikipedia. org) School Facilities – refer to the availabilities of classrooms and laboratory and other buildings in school for effective classroom instruction. Theoretical Framework A theory without facts becom es fantasy, uncontrolled imagination, a reverie. Based on these requirements, several theories are presented.This study can be associated to Social systems model theory (Waller, 1932) according to him every institution is a system of social interaction; it is organized whole comprising of interacting personalities bound together in an organic relationship. Further, the school is characterized by an interdependence of parts, a clearly defined population, and differentiation from its environment, a complex network of social relationships, and its own unique culture. The model suggests that a school consists of a number of important elements or subsystems that affect the organizational behavior.Also this can also be patterned to Social systems (Scott, 2003) consist of independent parts, characteristics and activities that contribute to form the whole. The school consists of a number of important elements or subsystems that affect organizational behavior. The individual or members of an organization have their own individual needs, beliefs and cognitive perceptions of their environment and job. Further, the social systems model gives a dynamic view of the school, with the feedback mechanisms and elements providing the action of the components.This study is also linked with invitational theory (Myers and Monson, 1992). The main tenant of invitational theory is to revitalize schools and to encourage students to want to go to school. According to the advocates of the theory, there are five factors that affect the appeal of schools; people, places, policies, programs, and processes. Invitational theory claims that these five factors make schools more socially appealing and safe. To create a more positive learning environment, school administrators must provide programs which are attractive for the students and teachers.Programs, policies, curriculum supervision, human resource management, school climate condition must provide a positive impact for teachers and learner s in order for them to uplift the school academic standards. A democratic leadership with an open system to stakeholders can create an increased performance. Furthermore, research from Sternberg (2000) which is Theory of Mental Self-Government emphasized that students' learning and thinking styles (which are usually ignored), together with their ability levels, play an important role in student performance. TheTheory of Mental Self-Government refers to an inventory of different thinking styles that gives an indication of people's preference of thinking patterns. Where the Triarchic Theory focuses on the ability itself, the theory of Mental Self-Government refers to different thinking styles which constitutes preference in the use of abilities. According to the Theory of Intellectual Abilities, three kinds of intellectual abilities exist, namely analytical, creative and practical abilities. Measures of abilities tend to focus mainly on analytical abilities, whereas all the three type s of abilities need to be regarded as equally important.Research done by Sternberg showed: The more we teach and assess students based on a broader set of abilities, the more racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse our achievers will be. From Wikipedia (2011) Theory of relative weight of Nature and Nurture is a basis of this study about gender influences of pupils on their academic achievement. The biological differences between males and females – sexual differences – account for a relatively small part of the actual differences between men and women.Most of these differences are matters not of sex but of gender which, unlike sex, is socially formed and cultivated. Differences of gender, however, are used to justify inequalities between the sexes and the appropriation by males of the major part of power, leisure, time and property. CONCEPTUAL MODEL Figure 1 Figure 1 showed the hypothesized relationship between profile of the respondents and school climate condition to the students’ performance in the National Achievement Test.The dependent variable consists of the students’ performance in the National Achievement Test in five learning areas such as English, Science, Math, Filipino and Araling Panlipunan. The independent variables such as profile of the respondents which comprises the age, gender, birth order, monthly income of the family, parents’ educational attainment, and average grade for the last school year attended and the next independent variable consists of school climate condition comprises of school facilities, instructional focus and school physical nvironment. The arrows from the two independent variables show the hypothesized relationship between them. The respondents of the study are third year students in the nine public secondary schools in the Division of Calapan City. The two-tailed arrow in the independent variable which is the school climate conditions will be used to test the hypothesized d ifference among each variable such as school facilities, instructional focus and physical environment. Chapter II RELATED LITERATURE AND RELATED STUDIESThis chapter presented the reading surveyed on and database documents which are significant research materials in this study. The purpose is shown that the content of the subject matter in this study are supported by the authorities. Local Related Literature From the interview of Bulatlat Magazine dated June 2006 to the Chairman of Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Mr. Jerry Tinio said that public school students do poorly in diagnostic and achievement tests. Last June 2002, the overall performance score of Grade IV pupils who took the national diagnostic test (NDT) was 39. 9%, while the first year high school students had a lower 28. 04 percent. The national achievement test (NAT) given last March 2010 delivered slightly better results, with the fourth graders garnering a 43. 55%, while the first year high school students earned a 36. 13%. Despite the slight improvement, the scores are still way below the 75% passing rate, Tinio said. From the article of of Dr. LeopoldoSichon (2006)in his article entitled Our Schools, Our Teachers, our Students vs. he National Achievement Test concluded that the plight of the school and students is somewhat murky; the goal of having 75 percent and above mastery levels in academic performance in the National Achievement Test does not seem to be in cognizant of the teaching and learning environment that we have. Of course, we do not discount the fact that DepEd is doing what it perceives to be the best- programs and initiatives had been conceptualized and implemented to answer the pressing need for quality education.Somehow we are doing the best we can to bridge the gap between what we have and what we want for our students. Yet, the effort seems futile due to the fact that we still have to reckon with real problems that confront us the system. These problems are more domina nt than achieving higher academic performance alone and we could not just blind ourselves from the fact that when basic needs are not met, all other needs will be just be meaningless. He said that the teachers need greater empowerment.More than just salary increases, educators need the morale boost by knowing that they belong to a truthfully dignified organization whose philosophical foundation, visions and mission statement are in congruence with its built-in processes and mechanisms. We need local leaders who can charter our educational direction through open channels of communication and can guide us through well-planned, needs-based and competency-based programs that will hone teachers’ managerial skills.These teachers will in return become self-managing, self-governing and self-sustaining and without further ado, can mutually exchange expertise with peers both conceptual and technical. He also said that we need to realize also the disparities between our schools, their l ocations as well as the diverse clienteles that we serve. Students from rural areas are different from those in the urban areas. Demographic characteristics such as family background, economic status, school distance, family background, etc. should be considered in formulating the testing materials intended to measure students’ academic performance.There and then in his perspective, that we can truly measure the quality of teaching instruction done in our schools. Lastly, he added that everything will ever be a never-ending cycle, unless the government can come up with a plan that will finally address these problems especially graft and corruption. From the issue of De Guzman (2002) entitled â€Å"Restructured Basic Education Curriculum† stated that whether in high school or in the elementary level, curriculum must be balanced, articulate, sequential, integrative and continuous.The issue of too overcrowded curriculum was answered by the implementation of the 2002 Restr uctured Basic Education Curriculum which offshoot to restructuring the learning areas, integration of values education and related skills within the learning areas, greater emphasis on the learning areas and integrative strategies in teaching, increased time task allocation in major learning areas such as English, Math, Science, Filipino and Makabayan. Experts agree that there is no perfect formula for the solution of problems especially when they involve human feats.Learners are diverse and the tendency of educators to adopt a one-size-fits-all type of teaching is said to be contributory to low performance of students. Curriculum must be flexible and must allow teachers to freely innovate as necessity and propriety dictate. From the manual, School Based Teachers Program (2002) in the article â€Å"Woes of a Teacher† declared that the effectiveness of teachers in delivering the right and proper instruction is another question that must be considered if we are to delve serious ly into the root causes of our students’ academic performance.Salary issues had been answered by the government although some of the recommendations regarding teachers’ benefits was shelved due to lack of government funds. Strategies for reforms in reference to teachers pay were implemented as well as reforms in the processes of promotion. Teachers were encouraged to sustain professional upgrading and development. Principals were tasked to revitalize the school-based instruction program where teachers were taught effective managerial and instructional skills through the SBTP (School Based Teachers Program).He added that if salary issues were somehow met, look then at the actual classroom teaching scenario. Imagine the nightmarish teaching condition where a teacher has to teach 60 to 70 students in a class with only a piece of Manila paper as her instructional material. This is happening and a clear manifestation that the problem of teachers’ effectiveness is als o surrounded by so many intertwining factors aside from salary. Salary alone cannot guarantee effective teaching when the daily travails of teachers show work overload beyond human capacity.From the DepEd report (2010) declared that technology has brought us sophisticated learning tools but textbooks remain to be the most valuable learning reference of teachers and students in the classrooms. However, despite government initiatives to solve the yearly textbook problems, observation shows that textbooks are always lacking and some of them are found to be erroneous. In answer to this, DepEd reported a more stringent evaluation process it did since 2005 in textbook procurement project.Their evaluation on the textbooks focuses on determining the completeness and sufficiency of development of the learning competencies, accuracy and up-to-datedness’ of contents, determining the appropriateness of the materials to society, to target users and to culture and on the language used to e nsure that these are grammatically correct and appropriate to the level of the students. Improvement on this aspect is still not fully realized for we know that students still do not have enough textbooks to meet the demands of their studies.The Internet has become an effective substitute to information getting, however, since access to Internet is still limited in many areas of the country, this does not solve the problem yet. As mentioned by Meinardus (2003) entitled â€Å"Our Students: the Family Level Factors† mentioned that only some of the internal and external environments affecting the quality of education we deliver. He also said that do not forget the economic situation in our country, the income that sustains the family, the family structure in itself and many others.Experts agree that the educational condition attributed to the family is beyond all doubt or discussion, as there is an ever-increasing awareness of the importance of the parents’ role in the pr ogress and educational development of their children. Researchers consider family background the most important factor in determining the academic performance attained by the student; among these factors of greatest influence are socio economic status and the educational environment in the family. With regard to social class, relevant research tells us that one’s results and expectations for the future are better when one belongs to the social ladder.A student who expects to become a doctor like his parents someday shall perform most likely well than a student who has no clear vision of the future because he/she knows very well that his or her parents could not afford to send him/her to school. Also, influence of the family educational climate is defined by the amount and the style of help that children receive from the family; this is determined by elements of the family context, like the dynamics of communication and affective relationships, attitudes towards values, expect ations, etc.Along these same lines, it is also reported that parental expectations have a notable influence on academic results. It is also noted that there are indirect relationships between performance and the student’s perception of how much importance his or her parents assign to study at home. What do we expect about NAT results then after considering all these factors? As mentioned by Meinardus (2003), 95 per cent of all elementary students attend public schools, therefore the educational crisis in the Philippines is basically a crisis of public education.The wealthy can easily send their offspring to private schools, many of which offer first-class education to the privileged class of pupils. Foreign Related Literature Lent (2000) in his toolkit entitled Improving Academic Achievement stated that students’ achievement in basic education has become an index of child’s future in this highly competitive world. For him, academic achievement has been one of th e most important goals of the educational process. It is also a major goal, which every individual is expected to perform in all cultures.Academic achievement is a key mechanism through which adolescents learn about their talents, abilities and competencies which are an important part of developing career aspirations academic achievement and career aspirations in adolescence are often correlated. Crow and Crow (2009), defined â€Å"Academic achievement as the extent to which a learner is profiting from instructions in a given area of learning i. e. , achievement is reflected by the extent to which skill or knowledge has been imparted to him†.Marzano (2005) reviewed in his article entitled Factors influencing Academic achievement that the factors like parent’s education, parental occupation, type of family, family size, ordinal position and even gender and age of the child are found to have their impact on the academic achievement of every student. He stated that the ef fect of family environment on student’s achievement suggest that several characteristics of family life are relevant. Cromwell (2006) from his text titles Study habit: Students’ Role- A question pointed out that the efficient and effective way of learning depends upon the study habits of the students.Study habits are important they influence the academic achievement of students. So parents and teachers must help in improving the study habits of students. Some investigators have sought to determine what study habits are characteristically used by students when left to work by themselves with little or no direction. Teachers in schools should become facilitators of learning. The finite treasure within every learner should be discovered and nurtured for the purpose of improving learning effective study skills have to be taught. Study skills involve reference, reading listening, study habits and strategies.Learning improves with planning of where, when and how much to stud y. Positive attitude, proper physical condition and balanced emotional states are important factors influencing study habits. From the book of Singh (2004) entitled Gender and Academic achievement declared that the performance of every individual is not equal. There is a lot of variability and dispersion. The variability cannot be attributed to a single factor, but it is the outcome of number of factors as intelligence, study habits, self-concept, creativity, aptitude interests, socio economic factors, area etc.Along with these gender of the child is also an influencing factor on Academic achievement of the child. Singh made a survey of the study habits of high, middle and low achieving adolescents in relation to their sex, intelligence and socio economic status and found that study habits of boys and girls differed significantly at different levels of academic achievement. Vijayalaxmi and Natesan (2002) in their article Socio- Economic Status: Factors influencing academic achieveme nt declared that girls had a higher mean academic achievement compared to boys.However, Kaur and Gill (2003) revealed that achievement in English and total achievement was independent of sex, but boys scored higher than girls in achievement in Punjabi, Mathematics and Science. Ahmed (2008) reported in his review entitled â€Å" Achievement Motivation that the influence of sex on achievement motivation was found to be statistically non-significant. He carried out that there are differences among adolescent boys and girls of various ordinal positions.The study was over conducted on sample of one hundred and twenty students belonging to the age group of 13-18 years, studying in co-educated English medium institutions confined to the suburbs of Mumbai city. Local Related Studies From the study of Galih, (2008) entitled â€Å"Extent of Principal Role and School Structure in Students’ Achievement† mentioned that the principal is central to the extent of stakeholders’ involvement, the relationships among the principal’s leadership, student achievement, and school effectiveness are more indirect, both in this study and in the literature.He also found that the principal’s leadership has strong direct effect on in-school processes and only indirect effects on outcomes. The study also found that principals have a key role in the success of schools generally and, especially, in student outcomes. This result is consistent with the later study of he cited from Leithwood and Jantzi which shows that effective leaders have a powerful indirect impact on student achievement and school effectiveness. He also cited the study of Heck et al. oted that â€Å"Principals do not affect individual students directly as teachers do through classroom instruction, but that activities of the Principal directed at school-level performance have trickle-down effects on teachers and students. † This is also consistent with the findings of Gali that the p rincipal’s leadership has a direct effect on school conditions such as school goals, planning, structure, climate, and work conditions which in turn show a direct effect on classroom conditions such as instruction, policies, and procedures.Masi (2008) in his study entitled â€Å"Relationship of leadership style, school climate, and the organizational commitment of teachers in the Seventh-day Adventist secondary schools in the Philippines† explored the relationship of principals’ leadership style, the school climate, and the organizational commitment of teachers in Seventh-day Adventist secondary schools in the Philippines. Major findings in this study lead to the following conclusions: The principal’s leadership style, school climate, and the organizational commitment of teachers are interrelated.Teachers perceive higher commitment under a leadership characterized by high consideration, regardless of the level of initiating structure. Teachers’ org anizational commitment is positively related to climate openness characterized by supportive principal behavior and teacher engagement, intimacy, and low levels of teacher frustration. Furthermore, considerate leadership behavior is positively related to climate openness. Predictive models of organizational commitment, accounting for approximately 25% of the variance, include marital status, consideration leadership behavior, and aspects of school climate.Although the theoretical concept of leadership quadrants was upheld in the study, it appears that leadership behaviors, particularly the consideration dimension, are more useful in relationship to the areas of school climate and organizational commitment. Major implications are that school principals should seek to practice considerate leadership behavior and create an open school climate. School boards and accrediting agencies should include leadership, school climate, and teacher commitment surveys as an integral part of school p rogram evaluation.It may be of value to conduct additional studies to examine other theoretical antecedents as well as expected outcomes of organizational commitment. San Antonio (2006) in his study entitled â€Å"Effective Participatory School Administration, Leadership, and School Climate Management: Does It Affect The Trust Levels of Stakeholders? † reported on his study that the effectiveness of participatory school administration, leadership and management (PSALM) as perceived by 282 stakeholders in one school division in the Philippines.In his study, he also examined the correlation between the indicators of PSALM effectiveness and the trust levels of the stakeholders. The results indicate that the stakeholders found the implementation of PSALM through advisory school councils to be effective. The effectiveness of implementing ASC (Advisory School Council) as perceived by the respondents reinforces the finding that their levels of thrust were also high.Indeed, many fact ors affect the fostering of thrust in the school. However, this study has shown that, to some degree, the adequacy of time for ASC business, the satisfaction with the composition of the ASC, the appreciation for the usefulness of committees, the sharing of information, the perceived influence on teaching and learning, and the overall satisfaction with the operation of the ASC significantly related to the trust levels among the stakeholders.It is therefore suggested that school leaders wishing to enhance the levels of trust among the stakeholders in their schools should endeavor to achieve a balanced representation in the school council, utilize committees appropriately, share more information with other stakeholders, provide adequate time for doing ASC business, and focus on teaching and learning to make the overall functioning of ASC highly effective.Benito (2009) in her the study titled â€Å"Analysis of the Performance in Trigonometry of the First Year College Students of Divine Word College of Viganstated that subject difficulties exist because of its complexity in using symbols and in computations. Hence student finds it as a difficult subject it not properly taught. It exists too because they forget previously learned concepts and skills that are needed for the new skills to be learned. So, a student cannot comprehend higher level of mathematics if one did not understand yesterday’s principles and skills learned.With these difficulties, students always have a negative connotation of the subject matter. These negative attitudes includes: fear of the subject, anxiety in learning the subject, meaningless of the subject and its abstraction. These lead to inability of students to comprehend the subject which further led to low performance in mathematics. The low performance is true not only of high school students. In the National Elementary Achievement Tests (NEAT), administered to sixth graders from 1993 to 1999, science and mathematics ranked the l owest or second lowest among elementary school academic subjects.According to the study of Soriano (2008) â€Å"Teacher-Related Factors Of Sophomore Students’ Achievement In Mathematics In Three (3) National High Schools In Maragondon District† educational researchers have investigated many factors considered to affect student learning. At the heart of this line of inquiry is the core belief that teachers make a difference. Indeed, teacher plays an important role in the intellectual development of the students, using various assessments and teaching styles to improve students’ performance in school subjects.School subjects’ performance is determined by giving an achievement test. The results of which are used to determine their achievement level, strengths and weaknesses in each subject area. Foreign Related Studies Cash (2008) from the study entitled â€Å"Improving Student Achievement and School Facilities in a Time of Limited Funding† pointed ou t that school building condition, attendance, and academic achievement in New York City, found building conditions to be a predictor of student attendance and student achievement on standardized tests.These results were reported after controlling for other possible factors, including socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and teacher quality. (Duran-Narucki, 2008) That poorer building condition negatively impacts student attendance and that coming to school is necessary to learning are both logical arguments that continue to be supported by research. The National Summit on School Design (NSSD) reported eight recommendations for school design excellence.These included designs to support a variety of learning styles, and the creation of healthy, comfortable, and flexible learning spaces. These recommendations have several implications for changes in the learning environment (NSSD, 2005). While the cumulative effect of the school facility’s condition has been related to student outcom es, further research has been done to pinpoint several specific factors that contribute to this overall phenomenon. These pecific factors include lighting, building cleanliness, health and safety, painting, and student and teacher morale From the dissertation of Akbari (2004) titled â€Å"Teacher Characteristics as Predictors of Students’ Academic Achievement† declared that there has been a substantial theoretical and practical shift of emphasis, mostly in mainstream education, towards acknowledging that teachers are among the principal components of any pedagogical program.In the past ten years, a burgeoning research base has increasingly shown that teachers are among the most important players influencing student achievement, holding the key to sealing the gaps in students’ achievement outcomes. Sanders (1998), for example, states that the â€Å"single largest factor affecting academic growth of populations of students is differences in effectiveness of indiv idual classroom teachers. He also believed that the â€Å"more can be done to improve education by improving the effectiveness of teachers than by any other single factor. Along the same lines, Alexander (2005) argues that â€Å"few educators, economists, or politicians would argue with the contention that all things being equal, highly qualified teachers produce greater student achievement than comparatively less qualified teachers. † From the thesis of Steenson (2006) titled â€Å"The School Size and Its Relationship to Student Outcomes and School Climate: A Review and Analysis of Eight South Carolina State-wide explained what size should a school be to optimize learning and teaching — while striving for cost efficiency in operation.At least in South Carolina, after numerous studies, the answer is yet to be found. While on the surface it first appears that, with rare exception, smaller schools don’t produce better results and cost more to operate, closer obs ervation reveals that the issue is much more complex. In South Carolina smaller middle schools appear to produce better student outcomes. And, at the elementary and high school levels, even where bigger appears better, there is evidence that results can vary significantly depending upon the children served.Further, poverty has such a dramatic effect on school outcomes in South Carolina that possible influences of other variables such as school size are possibly masked. Based on the studies to date the only logical conclusion that can be reached is that finding the â€Å"ideal† school size is at least elusive, and possibly so complex that an â€Å"absolute ideal† does not exist. However, the findings from the South Carolina studies supply sufficiently intriguing data to suggest further study of school size is warranted.Sanders and Harvey (2002) in their study entitled â€Å"Beyond the School Walls: A Case Study of Principal Leadership for School- Community Collaboratio n described how one urban elementary school in a high-reform district and state has been able to develop strong connections with community businesses and organizations as part of its program of school, family, and community partnerships. The case study identifies four factors that allowed the school to build successful bridges to its community.These factors are (1) the school’s commitment to learning; (2) the principal’s support and vision for community involvement; (3) the school’s receptivity and openness to community involvement; and (4) the school’s willingness to engage in two-way communication with potential community partners about their level and kind of involvement. The concluding section of the paper discusses the implications of the study’s findings for school, district, and state educational leaders.The literature and studies reviewed by the researcher will help to understand the interconnection of variables that may affect to the stude nts’ performance in the national achievement test. These literatures will help explain the research – after all, literature review will show what other researchers have done. The review aims to show why the research needs to be carried out, how to choose certain methodologies or theories to work with and how the present study adds to the research already carried out.Chapter III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the methodology of the researcher employed by the researcher in analyzing and interpreting the data pertaining to the variables of this study. Research Design The researcher used the descriptive-correlational method of research that seeks the relationships which exist between different factors of students’ performance in the national achievement test in the public secondary schools in the division of Calapan City.The researcher also used the comparative method of research that aims to make comparisons among different variables in school climate c onditions such as physical facilities, instructional focus and physical environment. Descriptive research involves the description, recording, analysis and interpretation of the present nature, composition or process of phenomenon. It involves some types of comparison or contrasts and may attempt to discover a cause and effect relationship that exists between non-violated variables.Correlational studies are designed to estimate the extent of which the different variables are related to each other in the population of interest. The distinguishing characteristic is the effort to estimate the relationship as distinguished from simple description. Research Locale This study was conducted in the eight (8) public secondary schools in the Division of Calapan City namely; Bucayao National High School located at Bucayao, Calapan City, Canubing National High School at Canubing, Ceriaco A.Abes National High School at Mahal Na Pangalan, Community Vocational High School at Masipit, Mamerta G. To lentino National High School at Parang, Managpi National High School at Managpi, Nag-Iba National High School at Nag Iba I and Pedro V. Panaligan National High School at Comunal. Respondents of the Study The respondents of this study were the 276 third year students for school year 2011-2012 from public high schools in Calapan City. The table shows the distribution of the respondents of the study:Table A. Respondents of the study from eight (8) public high schools at Calapan City Division. | | | | |HIGH SCHOOL |TOTAL NUMBER OF THIRD YEAR STUDENTS |RESPONDENTS | |Managpi National High School |146 |45 | |Mamerta G.Tolentino National High School |115 |36 | |Bucayao NHS |95 |30 | |COMMUNITY VOCATIONAL HS |102 |32 | |Ceriaco A. Abes MNHS |82 |25 | |Pedro V.Panaligan MNHS |118 |37 | |Canubing NHS |152 |47 | |Nag-Iba NHS |78 |24 | |TOTAL |888 |276 | Sampling ProcedureThe respondents were taken from the total population using stratified random sampling at 5% error of tolerance. The sample size was determined with the use of Slovin’s formula: Where:n=sample population N=total number of population e2=Error Formula:n = N 1 + Ne2 n = N 1 + Ne2 n = 888 1 + 888 (. 05)2 n = 276 The sample population of each school is computed using the stratified proportional sampling. Research Instrument The main instrument used in this study was the constructed questionnaire by the researcher. The questionnaire was divided into two parts; the respondents’ profile and the school climate condition.The first part of the questionnaire asked questions pertaining to the students’ profile such as age, gender, birth ordinal position, monthly income of the family, parents’ educational attainment, and average grade for the last school year attended. On its second part, respondents asked about their school climate condition which comprises the school facilities, instructional focus and physical environment of the school. The scale used is as follows: 1-Poor/ Pre-Ba sic 2- Fair/ Basic 3- Good/ Approaching to Proficiency 4- Satisfactory/ Proficient 5-Excellent/ Above Advanced Reliability of the InstrumentTo test the reliability of the instrument, the test retest procedure was used. Ten student respondents who were not included in the study were given the test-retest. After 10 days, the questionnaires were given again to the same respondents. The reliability was computed using Pearson’s r. Table B. Results of test-retest |Variable |R-value |Description | |School Facilities |0. 95 |Very high reliability | |Instructional Focus 0. 92 |Very high reliability | |Physical Environment |0. 90 |Very high reliability | Data Gathering Procedure After finding out the reliability of the research instrument, the researcher requested permission to conduct the study through request letter and asked approval from the Schools Division Superintendent and the eight (8) public secondary school principals in the Division of Calapan City through letter.After the approval of the request, the researcher personally administered the set of questionnaires to the student-respondents. The assistance of the teachers was requested to assist the researchers in administering the instrument to ensure the full cooperation of the respondents. Direction for answering the test was explicitly stated to guide the respondents in answering the test. The researcher saw to it that all instruments was returned completely. After the retrieval of the questionnaire, the researcher tabulated and processed the data manually.Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed and the results were interpreted. Data matrix was based on dummy tables to organize, summarize, and analyze the data how variables differ with each other. Scoring and Quantification of Data A 5-point numerical scale with their description was employed as shown below: Table C. Numerical Scale. |Numerical Scale |Statistical Limit |Verbal Description | |5 |4. 1 – 5 |Excellent | |4 |3. 41  œ 4. 20 |Satisfactory | |3 |2. 61 – 3. 40 |Good | |2 |1. 81 – 2. 60 | Fair | |1 |1. 00 – 1. 80 |Poor Statistical Treatment of Data The data gathered from the questionnaire were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive statistics such as Weighted Mean, Pearson’s r, and Chi Square and ANOVA was used to describe the variables of the stud The following formula was used in this study: 1. Mean X = ? x / n Where: ?x is the sum of all the sample observations n is the number of sample observations x is the mean The formula for mean was used in computation of mean scores of students’ performance in school climate conditions and students’ profile. 2. Pearson’s r: r = n? xy – ( ? x)(? ) v [n(? x2) – (? x)2] [ n (? y2) – (? y)2] Where: r is the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation n is the number of scores x is the first variable y is the second variable ? is the sum of scores or the variable ?x2 is the summation o f squared variable x ?y2 is the summation of squared variable y This formula was used to test the relationship between the students’ performance in NAT in terms of age, monthly income, average grade and the school climate conditions in terms of school facilities, instructional focus and physical environment. 3. Chi-square test statistic X2 = ? (O-E2E Where: X2 is the chi-square statistic, O is the observed frequency ? is the symbol for summation differences of cumulative E is the expected frequency This formula was used to test the relationship between the students’ academic performance and respondents’ profile in terms of gender, parents’ educational attainment to the academic performance of the student’ respondents. 4. One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is the statistical procedure that was used to test mean differences between among three variables by comparing variability between groups to variability within groups.TSS = Total sum of square S Sb= sum of squares of each group SSw = sum of squares within groups dfb = degrees of freedom between groups dfw = degrees of freedom within groups k = number of samples n = total of all scores N = total number of samples ?Xi = sum of squares in each group X = individual value in all the groups TSS = ? X2 – (? X)2 ?(X1)2 ? (X2)2 ? (X)2 SSb = + n1 n2 N SSw = TSS – SSb dfb = k – 1 dfw = k (n-1) The formula was used to determine the difference among the school facilities, instructional focus and physical environment. Chapter IVPRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA This chapter presents the discussion of the data gathered by the researcher. These are analyzed and interpreted below. 1. Profile of the Respondents 1. Age As shown on the table, age ranging from 14 to 15 dominates the number of respondents, which is 86. 59 percent of the respondents of the study. This is attributed to the fact that the right age for third year level is this range. On the other hand, as shown in the same table, it could also be noted that only one or 0. 36% falls under the age bracket of 20 and above.This might be because the respondent’s dropped from school for 2-3 beyond the age required in in Grade I. Considering the age bracket ranging from 12-13, the table also reveals that only one falls under it which simply means that the respondent enrolled to Grade I, one year ahead of the required age. Table 1. 1 Frequency and percentage distribution of respondents as to age |Age |Frequency |Percentage | |12-13 |1 |0. 6 | |14-15 |239 |86. 59 | |16-17 |31 |11. 23 | |18-19 |4 |1. 45 | | 20 and above |1 |0. 6 | |TOTAL |276 |100 | 1. 2 Gender Table 1. 2 reveals that female respondents are outnumbered males by 58. This might be attributed to the fact that there are really more females than males. Based on the Philippine Demographic Profile (2011) record from www. indexmundi. com/philippines, as to age structure of male and female from 15-65 years old and ove r, there were 32 980 772 males while female has 33 568 847. Table 1. Frequency and percentage distribution of respondents’ as to gender |Gender |Frequency |Percentage | |Male |109 |39. 49 | |Female |167 |60. 51 | |Total |276 |100 | . Parent’s educational attainment 1. 3. 1 Mother As could be gleaned in Table 1. 3. 1, it could be noted that 97 or 35. 14% of the mothers of the respondents are graduates of high school and only 26 or 9. 42 % of them did not finish grade school. This means that mothers of the respondents could assist their children in making assignments and projects at home. Since, all of them have entered schooling they knew how to read and write. The table also shows that there are only two mother who are doctoral degree holder.It is also revealed in the table that all mother respondents have attended schooling. Table 1. 3. 1 Frequency and percentage distribution of Respondents’ as to mother’s educational attainment |Mothers’ Educatio nal Attainment |Frequency |Percentage | |Did not finish grade school |26 |9. 42 | |Graduated from Grade school |42 |15. 2 | |Did not finish high school |44 |15. 94 | |Graduated from High School |97 |35. 14 | |Some College education |26 |9. 42 | |Technical Vocational |21 |7. 1 | |Bachelors’ Degree |14 |5. 07 | |Master’s Degree |4 |1. 45 | |Doctorate Degree |2 |0. 72 | |TOTAL |276 |100 | 1. 3. 2 Father Table 1. 3. presents the frequency and percentage distribution of respondents as to fathers’ educational attainment. It could be noted in table 1. 3. 2 that the highest frequency of 88 or 31. 88% is obtained by those who graduated from high school and the lowest which is 35 or 12. 68% representing those who did not finish grade school. There were also fathers who gained higher education such as college, technical-vocational, bachelors’ degree and master’s degree. This supports that the fathers of the respondents have the capability of assisting their children in doing their homework and projects. Table 1. . 2 Frequency and Percentage distribution of Respondents’ as to father’s educational attainment |Fathers’ Educational Attainment |Frequency |Percentage | |Did not finish grade school |35 |12. 68 | |Graduated from Grade school |50 |18. 12 | |Did not finish high school |40 |14. 9 | |Graduated from High School |88 |31. 88 | | | | | |Some College education |23 |8. 33 | |Technical-Vocational |23 |8. 33 |Bachelors’ Degree |15 |5. 44 | |Master’s Degree |2 |0. 725 | |Doctorate Degree |0 |0 | |TOTAL |276 |100 | 1. 4 Monthly Income of the family Tab

Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 1

The third book in the Love Story series, 2010 1. Hello Kitty BEING THE JOURNAL OF ABIGAIL VON NORMAL, Emergency Backup Mistress of the Greater Bay Area Night The City of San Francisco is being stalked by a huge, shaved vampyre cat named Chet, and only I, Abby Normal, emergency backup mistress of the Greater Bay Area night, and my manga-haired love monkey, Foo Dog, stand between the ravenous monster and a bloody massacre of the general public. Which isn't, like, as bad as it sounds, because the general public kind of sucks ass. Still, I think that this battle of dark powers; the maintenance of my steamy, forbidden romance; the torturous break-in of a new pair of red vinyl, thigh-high Skankenstein; platform boots; as well as the daily application of complex eye makeup and whatnot, totally justify my flunking Biology 102. (Introduction to Mutilation of Preserved Marmot Cadavers, with Mr. Snavely, who totally has his way with the marmots when no one is around, I have it on good authority.) But try to tell that to the mother unit, who deserves this despair and disappointment for cursing me with her tainted and small-boobed DNA. Allow me to catch you up, s'il vous plaà ®t. Pay attention, bitches, there will be a test. Three lifetimes ago, or maybe it was like last semester, because like the song says, â€Å"time is like a river of slippery excretions when you're in love†-anyway-during winter break, Jared and I were in Walgreens looking for hypoallergenic eye makeup when we encountered the beautiful, redheaded Countess Jody and her consort of blood, my Dark Lord, the vampyre Flood, who was totally disguised in jeans and flannel as a loser. And I was all, â€Å"Nosferatu.† Whispered to Jared like a night wind through dead trees. And Jared was all, â€Å"No way, you sad, deluded little slut.† And I was all, â€Å"Shut your fetid penis port, you spunk-breathed poseur.† Which he took as a compliment, so that's how I meant it, because while Jared is deeply gay, he's never really gayed anyone up, except maybe his pet rat, Lucifer. Strictly speaking, I think Jared would be considered a rodentsexual, if not for the difficult geometry of the relationship. (See, size does matter!) Note to self: I should totally set Jared up with Mr. Snavely and they can talk about squirrel-shagging and whatnot and maybe I won't have to repeat Bio 102. Anyway, Jared is a fitting support player in the tragedy that is my life, as he dresses dismal chic and excels at brooding, self-loathing, and allergies to beauty products. I've tried to talk him into going pro. ‘Kayso, the vampyre Flood had me meet him at a club, where I offered up myself to his dark desires, which he totally rejected because of his eternal love of the Countess. So he bought me a cappuccino instead and appointed me to be their official minion. It is the duty of the minion to rent apartments, do laundry, and bring the masters a sack with a tasty kid in it, although I never did that last part because the masters don't like kids. ‘Kayso, the vampyre Flood gave me money and I rented a trs cool loft in the SOMA (which is widely accepted to be the best ‘hood for vampyres because there's mostly new buildings and no one would suspect ancient creatures of purest evil to hang out there). But it turns out, it was like half a block from the trs cool loft in the SOMA that they already lived in. ‘Kayso, when I take the key to them, hoping they will bestow the dark gift of immortality upon me, this limo full of wasted college-age guys and a painted blue ho with ginormous fake boobs pulls up. And they're all, â€Å"Where is Flood? We need to talk to Flood. And let us in,† and other demanding shit. And I'm all, â€Å"No way, step off Smurfett. There's no one named Flood here.† I know! I was all, Oh-my-fucking-zombie-jebus-on-a-pogo-stick! She was blue! And I'm not racist, so shut up. She clearly had self-esteem issues that she compensated for with giant fake boobs, slutty blue body-paint, and doing a carload full of stoners for money. I'm not judging her by the color of her skin. Everyone copes. When I got braces I went through a Hello Kitty phase that lasted well into my fifteens, and Jared maintains that I am still perky at heart, which is not true. I am simply complex. But more about the blue hooker later, because right then the Asian guy looks at his watch and says, â€Å"Too late, it's sunset.† And they drove off. Which is when I opened the door into the stairwell to the loft and was confronted by Chet, the huge shaved vampyre cat. (Except, at the time, I didn't know his name, and he was wearing a red sweater, so I didn't know he was shaved, and he wasn't a vampyre yet. But huge.) So I'm all, â€Å"Hey, kitty, go away.† And he did, leaving only William, the huge shaved cat homeless guy, lying on the steps. I thought he was dead, because of the smell, but it turns out he was only passed out from alcohol and partially drained of blood and stuff. But I'm pretty sure he's dead now because, later, Foo and I found his stank-ass clothes on the steps of the loft, full of the gray dust that people turn to when a vampyre drains them. So upstairs I'm all, â€Å"There's a dead guy and a huge kitty in a sweater on your steps.† And the Countess and Flood are all, â€Å"Whatever.† And I'm all, â€Å"And there was a limo full of stoners here who were totally hunting you.† And they were all, â€Å"Whoa.† And they seemed more freaked out than you'd think, for ancient creatures of dark forbidden romance and whatnot. And it turns out they weren't-I mean, aren't. I mean, sure, their love is eternal, and they are creatures of unspeakable evil and stuff, but they are not ancient at all. It turns out that the vampyre Flood is only like nineteen, and he's only known the Countess for like two months. And she's only like twenty-six, which, while a little crusty, is not that ancient. And despite her advanced age, the Countess is beautiful, with long, totally natch red hair and milky skin, green eyes like emerald fire, and a smoking body that could turn a girl totally lesbo if she wasn't already a slave to the mad, man-ninja sex-fu of the delicious Foo Dog. (Foo keeps insisting that he can't be a ninja because he's Chinese and ninjas are Japanese, but he's just being stubborn and goes all Angry, Angry Asian on me whenever I bring it up.) ‘Kayso, in the master's loft I see these two bronze statues, one of this crusty businessman-looking guy, and the other looks like the Countess, except it's totally naked, or in a leotard, and bronze. And I'm all, â€Å"Exhibitionist, much, Countess? Did it come with a pole?† And she's all, â€Å"Help Tommy move furniture, Wednesday.† Like that makes any sense at all. (Turns out that Wednesday is a Gothish character from some crusty movie.) ‘Kayso, later, by virtue of my extensive research and sneaking around and whatnot, I find out that the statues aren't statues at all. That the Countess used to be inside the statue of her, and that inside the crusty businessman statue is the real ancient creature of unspeakable evil, the nosferatu that turned the Countess. And the vampyre Flood, who wasn't a vampyre at all at the time, had bronzed the two of them when they were sleeping the deep sleep of the daytime dead, which is like the deepest sleep you can get. (You should know right now, that there's no yawning, gentle drift into sleepytime for vampyres. When the sun breaks the horizon, they drop rag-doll dead on the spot, and you can pose them, paint them, put their hands on their junk and post the pics on the Web, and they won't know a thing until sundown when they come on like a light and they're wondering why their naughty bits are green and their inbox is full of propositions from elfin_love.com.) I know. Whoa! It turns out that Flood, who was known as Tommy, was chosen by the Countess as her day-minion, blood lunch, and love monkey, because he worked nights at the Safeway. Then, the old vampyre, who had turned the Countess only like a week before, started fucking with them-saying he was going to kill Tommy and generally harsh Jody's reality. ‘Kayso, Flood and his stoner Safeway night crew (called the Animals) hunted down the alpha vampyre, who was sleeping in a big yacht in the Bay, and they stole like jillions in art from the yacht and blew it up with the vampyre in it, which seriously put habaneras in his ‘tude lube, but when he came out of the water, they fucked him up a good long time with spear guns and whatnot. I know! Oh-my-fucking-god-ponies-in-the-barbecue! I know! It just goes to show you, like Lord Byron says in the poem: â€Å"Given enough weed and explosives, even a creature of most sophisticated and ancient dark power can be undone by a few stoners.† I'm paraphrasing. It may have been Shelley. ‘Kayso, the Countess saves the old vampyre from being toasted, but she promises the cops (there were these two cops) to take him away and never come back to the City, but when they go to sleep, Flood, who couldn't bear to lose Jody, took them downstairs to the biker-sculptors and had them bronzed. But when he was trying to explain to the Countess about why he did it, he drilled holes in the bronze by her ears, and she turned into mist, streamed into the room, and turned him into a vampyre. Which totally surprised him, because he didn't even know she knew how to do either of those things. (Misting and turning, I mean.) So then they're like, both vampyres, eternal in their love, but somewhat lame in their night skills. Because Jody had been feeding off of Tommy, she hadn't thought through what they would eat after Tommy turned vampyre. So, first they went to this homeless guy we'll call William the Huge Cat Guy (because that's what people call him) because he used to sit on Market Street with Chet and a sign that said, I AM POOR AND MY CAT IS HUGE. And they ended up renting the huge cat, Chet, to be their shared blood lunch. But it turned out that a large part of Chet's kitty hugeness was fur, so in order to facilitate the biting process, they shaved him. I'm just glad that I wasn't their minion yet, because I think we all know who would have ended up shaving the kitty. But no! It didn't work. I'm not sure why. But William got totally, date-rape-level hammered on the liquor he bought with the huge cat rent money, and they ended up feeding on him. Which is where I, the new princess-elect of darkness, was brought into the fold. (Into the â€Å"fold† means, like, the gang, as in gang of sheep, not fold like in what you do to T-shirts if you're a casual cotton slave at Old Navy.) It was I, who turned Tommy onto the needle exchange program, where he was able to use his pale thinness to convince them he was a junkie and get syringes so they could take William's blood and put it in the fridge for the Countess to have in her coffee. Turns out that the only way the vampyre can tolerate real food or drink is if it has a little human blood in it. (The Countess likes blood on her fries, which is at once trs cool and deeply fucked-up.) So, as soon as the Countess and Flood figured out the deal with blood and food, William the Huge Cat Guy wandered off and the Countess had to go find him, since she has more experience at hunting the night, while Flood and I moved stuff from one loft to the other. But I had to get lice shampoo for my useless little sister, Ronnie, who was plagued by vermin, and Flood sent me home early to spare me the wrath of the mother unit because he didn't want his minion on restriction. (So noble. I think that's when I fell in love with him.) Then he took the bronzed old vampyre down to the water to dump him in the Bay before the Countess got back. It was clear to me that Tommy had jealousy issues with the old vampyre, and wanted to get rid of him. Except he ran out of dark before he got to the Bay and had to leave the old vampyre sitting by the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero and run from the sun for his life. At the last minute, the Animals drive by in their limo with their stupid blue ho an d scoop the vampyre Flood off the street just before he was incinerated by the sun. I know. WTF? (FYI, when I type WTF, you are supposed to read it What the Fuck? Same with OMG, and OMFG, which are Oh My God and Oh My Fucking God. Only a completely lame Disney Channel nimnode pronounces the letters. Even BMLWA, or Bite My Lily White Ass should only be spoken as letters if you are hanging out with nuns or other people who are embarrassed about being told to bite asses.) ‘Kayso, the Animals go back to work at the Safeway, but not before they tie Flood to a bed frame, where the blue hooker tortured him to get him to turn her into a vampyre, because now she had like all the money that the Animals had gotten for the old vampyre's art, which was like six hundred thousand dollars, and she wanted to take her time spending it, so she wanted to be immortal. But Flood was like a complete vamp noob. He'd never even killed anyone and turned them to dust or anything, so he didn't know how to change someone. The Countess didn't tell him that the chosen had to drink the vampyre's blood to receive the dark gift. So the blue ho tortures the shit out of him. I know, what a bitch. Meanwhile, the Countess found the huge cat guy, and I found the lice shampoo, but we don't know where Tommy is. But the Countess was burned from going out on some hot water pipes, so she fed on me, right there in the loft, and I was all, â€Å"Oh shit, I'm going to get the dark gift and I'm, like, wearing my lime-green Chuck Taylors, which are totally not the kicks for becoming a creature of unspeakable power in.† But no, the Countess just partook of my sanguine nectar so she could heal. That's probably where I fell in love with her. Anyway, she goes asking around about Tommy, and this completely crazy homeless guy who thinks he is the Emperor of San Francisco (you see him and his two dogs in the north end of the City all the time) says that one of the Animals was asking around about Flood. So I'm all, â€Å"Uh-oh.† And the Countess is all, â€Å"Yep.† Next thing you know, we are at the Marina Safeway and the Countess-wearing her black jeans and red leather jacket, but no lipstick-underhands a steel reinforced trash can like as big as a lesbian gym teacher through the big front window, and she just walks right through the falling glass, badass as shit, into the store and starts kicking stoner ass. It was glorious. But she didn't kill anyone, which turned out to be a mistake, as was, in my humble opinion, not wearing any lipstick. For while it was a heroic ass-kicking as has ever been delivered in real life, it would have been that much cooler if she had some black lipstick on, or maybe something in a dark maroon. But they told her that Tommy was tied up at Lash's, the black guy's, apartment. And their shit was all busted up, and I was like, â€Å"You bitches have been powned!† And the Countess was like, â€Å"That's cute. Let's go get Tommy.† She can be kind of a bitch sometimes. Anyway, we go to the apartment where Tommy is being held, but when we get there, he's still tied to the bed frame, but stood up against a wall, all naked and covered in blood, even his junk. And the blue ho is dead on the floor. And I'm all, â€Å"Uh-oh.† And the Countess is all, â€Å"Yep.† And she says something about how the blue ho must have broken her neck or something, because if Tommy had drained her, she would have turned to dust and there would have been no body. Anyway, the cab ride back to the loft was trs awkward, you know, with Flood naked and covered with blood and the two of them all, â€Å"Oh I love you† and, â€Å"Oh I love you, too.† And I was being kind of a mopey little emo queen because I was jealous of both of them because they had their dark and eternal love for each other and I had like my lime-green Chucks and Jared the gay-bait rat-shagger. So that was good. The rescue and whatnot. Because we found the old vampyre art money that the Animals had paid to the blue ho, which was like a half a million dollars. But then we found out that the blue ho was not dead, but somehow had accidentally drunk some of Tommy's blood when she kissed him during his torture and now she was nosferatu. And she turned all the Animals. Which, you know, was bad. And not in the good way. And the old vampyre had somehow escaped his bronze shell, and he was coming after Tommy and Jody, and even me? He even shook the living shit out of William the Huge Cat Guy while Jared and I watched from an alley across the street. I know! We were all, â€Å"Whoa?† So it's like, Christmas night, and Jared and I are watching the midnight show of The Nightmare Before Christmas at the Metreon. And we're all traumatized and whatnot from watching the vampyre pound the huge cat guy, and the Countess calls us. And she and my Dark Lord Flood meet us for coffee at this Chinese diner, which is like the only thing open because the Chinese totally blow off Christmas because there are no dragons or firecrackers in the story. Note to self: Write narrative poem exploring Christmas if the three wise men had given baby Jesus firecrackers, a dragon, and mu-shu pork instead of that other crap. So, after all night drinking coffee laced with Jared's blood and getting the story on the old vampyre from the Countess and Flood, we go back to the loft and there, in the stairway, is the old vampyre, naked. And he's all, â€Å"I had to do some laundry. That guy peed on my tracksuit.† (He was wearing a total gangsta yellow tracksuit when we saw him shaking the huge cat guy.) So we like ran, and we had to hide my masters in some rafters under the Bay Bridge when they went out at dawn. No yawning or anything-they just became dead. Well, undead. So we wrapped them in trash bags and duct tape and moved them to Jared's basement lair in Noe Valley. (His basement lair is sacrosanct-his father and stepmother are afraid that they might walk in on him wanking to gay porn-so it was safe for the masters.) Meanwhile, I went back to the loft to feed Chet the huge shaved cat and decapitate the old vampyre with Jared's dagger so I could get extra-credit points with the masters, but it turned out that I had not calculated sundown quite right. Since when does the sun go down at like five o'clock? That's just fucking juvenile. Anyway, when I'm on the steps I hear the old vampyre moving around upstairs. And I'm all, â€Å"Awkward.† Then I hear a car pull up and I run out, right into the arms of this blond ho, who it turns out is the blue ho, who is now nosferatu, along with three of her vampyre minions who used to be the Animals. I know, â€Å"Uh-oh.† So she grabs me and is just about to tear my throat out, when the old vampyre grabs her by the neck and puts her face print in the hood of a Mercedes. He's all, â€Å"You're breaking the rules, ho. You can't just go turning people willy-nilly.† So I was doing a minor booty-dance of ownage at the blond ho, when they all turned on me. So I pull out Jared's dagger, but just the same I know they are going to have a huge group suck on my pale frame, when this totally fly, race-pimped Honda comes tearing out of the alley, and everything goes white light around the car. And my manga-haired love monkey, Foo, is totally in hero shades, and he's all, â€Å"Get in.† ‘Kayso, he swept me away in his magic nerd-chariot, which he had rigged with ultraviolet floodlights that totally toasted the vamps with simulated sunlight. I know! I'd have done him right there in the car if I was not trying to maintain my detached aura of aristocratic chill. So instead I kissed him within an inch of his life, then slapped him so he didn't think I was his personal slut, which I totally was. Would be. It turns out that Steve, which is Foo Dog's day-slave name, had totally been staking out the Countess Jody's apartment for like a month, since he figured out that she was a vampyre when some blood from one of the old vamp's victims turned up in his hemo-lab at Berkeley. Foo is like some kind of biotech ber-genius, in addition to having mad ninja-driving skills. Then Foo dropped me off at Tulley's on Market, where I met Jared and Jody, who sneaked by Jared's parents by pretending to be lovers, which is disgusting in so many ways I kind of gagged a little when I typed it. (Jared is my emergency backup BFF, but he is a pervy little rat-shagger, as the Countess affectionately refers to him.) So the Countess is all, â€Å"I'm going back to the loft to get the money.† And I'm all, â€Å"No, the old vampyre.† And she is all, â€Å"He is not the boss of me.† (Or something like that. I'm paraphrasing.) And I'm all, â€Å"Whatever, make sure you feed Chet.† So we go back to Jared's, and when we get there, the vampyre Flood is all fucked up from trying to climb face-down a building in the Castro after a delicious drag queen, like Dracula does in the book (only in the book it's not in the Castro and Dracula isn't after a drag queen). Note to self: When I am finally made nosferatu, do not try to climb face-down a wall. So then my sweet love ninja Foo shows up. And he's all, â€Å"I couldn't leave you out here, unprotected.† And secretly I was all, â€Å"You rock my stripy socks, Foo,† but publically I just kissed him and tastefully dry humped his leg a little. So we all got in his fly Honda and went back to the loft. When we got there, the second-floor windows were open, and Flood could hear that the old vampyre was up there with Jody. And Foo was all, â€Å"Let me go.† And out of the hatchback, he pulls this long duster that's covered with little glass warts. And Foo is all, â€Å"UV LEDs. Like sunlight.† The street-level fire door was locked, so Flood was all, â€Å"I'll go.† But Foo was all, â€Å"No, it will burn you.† But they covered Flood all over, gloves, hat, and a gas-mask that Foo keeps around in case of emergency biology and whatnot, then he put on the duster. Foo gave him a rubber tarp and a baseball bat, and Flood starts working the street like a half-pipe, running up a building on one side, then up the other, until he goes feetfirst through the upstairs window. Personally, I think the Countess could have just jumped up there, but she's been a vampyre longer than Flood and has better skills. ‘Kayso, there's this blinding white light from the windows, and next thing we know, the old vampyre comes crashing through the window like a flaming comet and hits the street right by us. And he gets up all blackened and snarly and whatnot, and Foo holds up his UV floodlight and he's all, â€Å"Step off, vampyre scum.† And the old vampyre ran off. Then Flood comes out the door carrying the Countess, who is looking way more dead than usual, and we took them to a motel to hide them until we could figure out what to do. Foo stole some donor blood from the lab at his college and gave it to Flood and the Countess so they could heal. And Foo's all, â€Å"You know, I've been working on the blood I found on the victims, and I think I can reverse the process. I can turn you human again.† Which is totally why he had been stalking the Countess when I met him. So Tommy and Jody were all, â€Å"We'll think about it.† ‘Kayso, Flood is holding Jody on the bed, and they're talking softly, but I can hear them, because I'm just by the door and the room's not that big. And it is clear that their love is eternal and will last for eons, but Flood doesn't like being a vampyre because the hours suck and whatnot, and Jody likes being a vampyre because of the power she feels after feeling like a little wuss-girl for many years, and they more or less say that they are going to split up just as the sun rises and they go out. And I was all, â€Å"Oh, hell no.† So I had them bronzed. I'm looking at them now. We posed them like Rodin's The Kiss and they shall be together unto the end of time, or at least until we figure out how to let them out and not have them tear out our throats and whatnot. Foo says it's cruel, but the Countess told me that they could go to mist, and when they are mist time passes like a dream and it's all good. But Foo did figure out his serum thingy. We lured the Animals to our love nest and while I was wearing the fly leather jacket that Foo made me, complete with the UV LED warts, which is very cool and cyber, I drugged them and Foo changed them back to human. And the crazy old Emperor guy said he saw three young vampyres take the old vampyre and the formerly blue ho away on a ginormous yacht, so we don't have to worry about them anymore. Foo wants to cut Flood and Jody out of the bronze statue during the day, while they are sleeping, and turn them back to human. But the Countess doesn't want that. So I think we should just wait. We have this trs cool apartment, and all of the money, and Foo almost has his master's in bio-nerdism or whatever, and I only have to go home like twice a week so the mother unit still thinks I am living there. (The key was to condition her from age twelve that sleepovers are normal. Lily, my former sleepover BFF, calls it slowly boiling the frog, which I don't know what it means, but it sounds darkly mysterious.) So, we are secure in our love nest and as soon as Foo gets home I am going to reward him with the slow booty dance of forbidden love. But something is screeching outside. BRB. Fucksocks! It's Chet the huge shaved vampyre cat, down on the street. He looks bigger, and I think he ate a meter maid. Her little cart is running and there's an empty uniform on the curb. Bad kitty! GTG L8erz.

Using Social Media to Market a Chiropractors Practice Essay

Using Social Media to Market a Chiropractors Practice - Essay Example The essay "Using Social Media to Market a Chiropractor’s Practice" looks at using social media to market a chiropractic practice looking at some of the options that are available, the costs, critical issues and advantages and disadvantages since integrating social media into marketing can help to significantly expand into other areas. The question of the extent to which chiropractors make use of social media to market their practice is one which is increasingly being debated. It has been argued that many chiropractors are constantly ignoring the reality as well as the potential that accompanies social media marketing subsequently leaving them behind. Integrating social media into any efforts at marketing can help to significantly expand into other areas that were previously not possible. Far from the days when one had to log into their Facebook and Twitter accounts in order to post updates, technology has evolved to provide tools including Hootsuite which present the chance to post updates to many social networks at once. Another perception is that social media is an expensive undertaking especially with regard to the notion that one will need to hire specialists and companies to put in place a social network profile for the practice. It is true that companies can enable the individual chiropractor to save a significant amount of time with regard to tasks that are related to the internet including setting up fan pages. Communication with the audience is a responsibility that can be carried out by the office staff.

Transcripy them precisely word by word Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Transcripy them precisely word by word - Essay Example From here to pacific like that there is less fish, there is a lot of percent less fish, I would say the reason, the bigger reason we got is the sewage outside. You see what happened with the Sewage they put organo-chlorine everyday outside. You know for the Sewer, when you go to the bathroom, that water, that got chlorine that go outside. Everybody would be like everything been changed We used to doing good on the lobster on the bay. No more than before but little bit is still there. we doing fair. Well a little harder, yeah! a little bit. The problem is too many people after they lost. Too many people, not only commercial fishermen, is poor fishermen. See, many people fish, go for lobster all year round. What did they do about? Sometimes they caught it sometimes they dont caught it, at night. They, most of the time they go after the commercial and they run, they are supposed to go a little bit more after small fishermen. Biscayne Bay I’ve been coming out here pretty much my whole life. It used to called, I think its still called windsurfer beach on that side. So, I used to be a lot of wind surfing over there, and years gone by I have done a lot of diving off of black point, we used to go many lobster seasons, going for lobsters. Weve done a lot fishing in this area, take the boat down to LA key, we used to go to stilts view, I dont know if you are familiar with stilts view? You should definitely look up stilts view if you are doing a paper on Biscayne bay, they got these old homes build on stilts southern bay, and they are still out there and you can go out hang on them, I dont know if you are supposed to but you can go hang out on them. These are all slash pines, and these are natives of here. And on that side, see all the palms are, that used to like this, they was all slash pines on either side and I cannot remember how long ago, maybe five six years ago, they took all the slash pines out, and they

Diary Entries (About a Brit Lit Character) Essay

Diary Entries (About a Brit Lit Character) - Essay Example Fortunately, it does not work with me. It is very clear to me that there is something lurking beneath that casual hospitality. Well then, let me attend to other matters my friend. It has been hours since I went up here to my favorite room at the mezzanine. Yours, H. 23th April 635 My Dear Friend, It has been almost a month since I last shared my reflections with you. I am holding a cameo medallion that I gave to my Queen during our wedding. Oh and yes! The ring! That wonderful piece of intaglio jewelry that she loved very much. The stones were embedded beyond the gold’s surface. I cannot forget the look on her face when I gave the pieces to her. I wonder what’s happening between us now. She seems distant. Anyway, I need to go as it seems I lost track of time. I hear the morning sound of the campanile from the nearby chapel already Yours, H. 1st May 635 My Dear Friend, My dear Queen is very happy with my consent to invite my brother over. She is talking about having a pa lace ball, to coincide with our anniversary. She is thinking of ordering some fresco paintings for the rotunda, the palace hall where she intends to accept the majority of the guests. Also, she mentioned about using a new type of wares called majolica. She mentioned how colorful the earthenwares are, and she wants the guests to be served in a new fashion.

Week 2 705 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 2 705 - Assignment Example 138). EBP bundles link to quality patient outcomes through identifying best practices that can be used for efficient and effective interventions that improve health outcomes. The ventilator care bundle, for example, reduces mortality rates in intensive care units. It has also been associated with reducing incidence of ventilator-acquired pneumonia and number of days that a patient takes in an ICU. I would use them in my institution by setting them as guidelines because they guide care personnel into best practices for improved outcomes (Gottwald and Lansdown, 2014). Translational research is a type of research that aims at using evidence-based results for further human research or for improving intervention measures. The research approach focuses on user of research findings, communication of the findings, and transformation of organization for effective implementation of empirical results (Jennings, 2004) for improved delivery of care (Chelsea, 2008). Translational research is, therefore, similar to EBP because of their research scope of knowledge development that can be used for improving care practices. Translational research, however, focuses on use of developed knowledge while focus of EBP is limited to knowledge

Textual Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Textual Analysis - Essay Example However, Stone would be the first to insist the film is not a documentary. There are several places in the historical record that are unclear or that Stone obviously had a difficult time believing, which he has filled with conjecture, hearsay and sometimes flimsy evidence. Several key characters portrayed in the story never actually existed either, but Stone created them out of composite elements of a number of people who were a part of the historic record. By doing this, he also opens the film up for an exploration of a number of the major conspiracy theories regarding the assassination including examining time lines, actions, events and connections between characters. The consistent build up of evidentiary material creates a sense of sustained suspense that has qualified the film for placement in the political horror genre in some circles, especially when one considers the opening sequence in more detail. Despite his insistence that the film is not an attempt to portray a historica lly factual documentary regarding Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Stone employs several real-life players in the film to help depict his version of events. The most prominent character is the assassinated President himself as he appears in this opening montage sequence. By refusing to recast the president, Stone proves his talent working with limited available footage. He also immediately injects a sense of reality into the story because everyone knows the former President was killed on that day and therefore could not have been available to shoot the new scenes Stone might have wanted in the film. The most impactful video clip used in this montage is the significant portion of the Zapruder film in which President Kennedy goes from being a happy smiling President waving to the crowds through the horrifying few seconds it takes for him to be fatally wounded. With this film, Stone immediately creates a somber mood of reflection as audiences realize this is the actual event and not a staged recreation. The events seen in that small, grainy film, which Stone did nothing significant to improve, actually happened in real life and changed the course of a nation. As the open-topped limousine speeds off toward the hospital, the audience is aware that the President is already dead. The video montage of the first section of the film establishes its link with reality through its almost exclusive use of actual news footage taken of the President and his family throughout his term in office and family footage that has become a part of the national archives. Other footage provides other important information about events of the time such as Eisenhower’s farewell address to the nation, Kennedy’s narrow margin of victory in winning the election, details of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam situation. Mixed with this authentic footage are several created scenes such as the footage of Jerry Belknap. Within the later body of the film, Belknap is said to h ave been an unidentified man who suffered an epileptic seizure moments before the shooting and drew away some of the attention of the security officers on duty that day. These scenes are integrated so smoothly that they seem to be as authentic as the news footage scenes that have been shown to this point. When it

Informtion Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Informtion Technology - Essay Example Larkin university faces the dual challenge of integrating itself into a university from a diverse group of colleges and at the same time deploying a technology blueprint to launch itself as a modern competitive educational institution. While traditional thinking may argue that technology deployment is a secondary tool-oriented task, modern approaches to information technology suggest that a sound IT strategy is not only a key enabler for the institutional plan but also an integrated part of it. As a result, â€Å"correct technologies† can â€Å"enable the required IS and corporate strategies to be achieved† (Clarke, 2001, p. 107). A failure in an organisation’s IT and IS strategy can translate into a failure for the organisation itself. A strategy for IT is closely aligned and integrated with the institutions overall strategy for growth and competitive advantage. Organisations typically have a slow response time to change, particularly so in the case of wide scale technology shifts. Larkin University has the unique ongoing challenge of combining existing collages into a university. This challenge could be turned into an advantage by using the new IT infrastructure as the vehicle of change. Laptops for staff, lecturers and students are just the end user side of the sea change in IT infrastructure and IS strategy taking place at the university. A productivity environment with standardised IT/IS platform and common email would free the users from issues of compatibility and delays in support of disparate systems. An institution-wide Internet availability would allow the university’s intranet to be accessed from anywhere. This higher productivity environment would enable the staff and lecturers to concentrate on their core functions. Standardised administrative applications such as scheduling, registration, fee, etc. can be deployed across the campus with minimum integration issues. Lecturers and students would interact and have access to their

Hunger Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Hunger - Essay Example His hand idly lay against his empty belly. Another hand reached upward to wipe the moisture from his eye as he looked out from the doorway, his eyes scanning across the street. The sounds of children playing were interrupted by the noise of shouting that occasionally erupted from one place or another. He swallowed before stepping out into the dirt of the street, the scents and the crust of the poor part of the city having no affect on him as he had lived within it his whole life. The growl in his belly, on the other hand, is a pain one can never get used to feeling. He began the search for food, for a resource from which to gain his meal for the day. The result of colonialism within Nigeria has displaced the cultural sense of survival, creating urban centers where once the natural order of society provided for itself. Urbanization has taken shelter and food from cultures that once knew how to work their land and use their resources in order to provide for themselves. Now, the cities are filled with generations who struggle still to adapt and to pull themselves out of poverty. He closed his eyes for a moment before moving through the city. He thought about a woman he knew who might give him a meal if he talked nicely to her. He hadn’t gone to her in a long time, but she had given him food before when he had happened by when she was cooking. He had to cross the city a bit to get near her home, but it was worth it if he got a cooked meal. He moved quickly from place to place, waving at those he knew until he was stopped dead in his tracks for a moment. He looked up and saw the office of a lawyer that he knew, a man who had bought his way into the graces of the mayor of the town. He saw the son of the mayor going into that office, with his clean white shirt and black trousers, not to mention the shiny black automobile from which he had emerged. â€Å"Lagos, the current capital city and perhaps the most important urban settlement in Nigeria, if not on the We st African coast, typifies a case of urban development in a rural context. The settlement has grown from a 19th century fishing and agricultural settlement to become a late 20th century metropolitan centre† (Baker184). The mayor’s son walked into the office, the whirring of the fan creating a small breeze through the open door. He ran his hand down his neck, bothered that his father had sent him on this errand, his life interrupted by this chore. He grinned for a moment thinking of the women from the night before, their lithe bodies undulating to the music, his throat filled with the drink that made his eyes glassy and filled him with a wildness that he could not express without it. He blew out a small bit of air and focused on the office door in front of him. â€Å"I have it, I have it† he said, knowing that his position in the city was dependant upon giving this tribute to the mayor, the power of that man enough to give him access to what he needed to sustain h is business. He fumbled around with a key to a drawer for a minute until it popped open. He pulled out a big envelope and surreptitiously filled it until it was full. He locked the metal clasp on it had and handed it to the mayor’s son, his sweating fingers leaving a mark upon the paper. The mayor’s son sneered then turned and left the office, still annoyed that his sleep and his day had been interrupted for such a task. â€Å"In today’s Nigeria corruption has become a problem with implications for development planning, power positions, and balances, the

Compartive review of two books relevance to South Asian history Research Paper

Compartive review of two books relevance to South Asian history - Research Paper Example Attempting a comparative study of these two eminent personalities one should first of all focus on their background. The people of India keep everlasting memories about Subhas Chandra Bose even after fifty years of his death, but he is not much popular to many of the westerners. As the extremist leader of the Provisional Government of Free India after its establishment by the Axis powers during World War II, many regard him as the Asian Hitler or Quisling. But he was soon forgotten just after the Allies defeated his Indian National army. For the Indians, he is still â€Å"Netaji† or "revered leader." Mother Theresa, the Nun Mother was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910. She was born to Albanian descent parents and it is said that she had the call of God at the age of twelve. This prompted her in joining the sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India (The Nobel Peace Prize 1979). When Mother was assigned to India after her initial vows as a nun, she happened to meet the pathetic state of the poor people outside the convent wall and decided to uplift their dismal state. Though she was devoid of any funds to support them, she herself felt that she had the Divine Providence which helped her all through her life. This selfless and endless sympathy along with kindness for the fellow beings, make her different and it is the same that earned her The Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Therefore, analyzing the biography of Netaji and Mother, one can certainly identify certain similarities; both fought for the freedom of people, Netaji for physical freedom and Mother for spiritual freedom and the main contrasts are concerned with Netaji as an extremist leader and Mother as the one followed non-violence like Mahatma Gandhi to attain her goals. 1) What subject matter does each author cover? The texts selected here for comparing and contrasting the characters of Mother Theresa and Subhas Chandra Bose are; "Subhas Chan dra Bose: a biography" (2002) by Marshall J. Getz and, "Mother Teresa: helping the poor" (1998) by William Jay Jacobs. Both the texts attempt a down to earth study of the given personalities without avoiding even the minute details. This is quite identifiable when observing the way the authors arrange the texts. Marshall J. Getz has arranged his book, â€Å"Subhas Chandra Bose: a biography† very systematically, beginning with the childhood of Netaji. The text has a logical sequence of development in the arrangement of incidents occurred in his life. The minute observation of the author is quite visible when he narrates Netaji’s father, Janakinath, a lawyer. Here the author, Marshall J. Getz writes, â€Å"His father, Jnakinath Bose, enjoyed an outstanding reputation as a lawyer among the local population of 20,000† (7). The subject matter of this book is concerned with Subhas Chandra Bose, his childhood, towering as a great political leader, the factors helped fo r attaining this position, his path-by putting an end to education and beginning politics, visits to foreign countries intended to seek help and support for his Indian National Army, and so on. The author has colorfully portrayed his towering as ‘Netaji’ and as the darling of the Axis. The chapter entitled; ‘The falling Tiger’ describing his disappearance and death, which is still left as a mystery. William Jay Jacobs has