Biography Of Robert E. Lee Essays - American Civil War, Free Essays

Biography Of Robert E. Lee Essays - American Civil War, Free Essays Biography of Robert E. Lee Robert E. Lee was born in Stratford Hall, near Montross, Virginia, on January 19, 1807. He grew up with a great love of all country life and his state. This stayed with him for the rest of his life. He was a very serious boy and spent many hours in his father's library. He loved to play with some his friends, swim, and he loved to hunt. Lee looked up to his father and always wanted to know what he was doing. George Washington and his father, "Light-Horse Harry Lee," were his heroes. He wanted to be just like his father when he grew up. In the 1820's, the entrance requirements for West Point were not close to as strict as they are now. It still was not that easy to become a cadet. Robert Lee entered the United States Military Academy at West Point where his classmates admired him for his brilliance, leadership, and his love for his work. He graduated from the academy with high honors in 1829, and he was ranked as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers at the age of 21. Lee served for seventeen months at Fort Pulaski on Cockspur Island, Georgia. In 1831, the army transferred him to Fort Monroe, Virginia, as assiezt engineer. While he was stationed there, he married Mary Anna Randolph Custis who was Martha Washington's great-granddaughter. They lived in her family home in Arlington on a hill overlooking Washington D.C. They had seven children which were three sons and four daughters. Lee served as an assiezt in the chief engineer's office in Washington from 1834 to 1837, but then he spent the summer of 1835 helping to lay out the boundary line between Ohio and Michigan. In 1837, he got his first independent important job. As a first lieutenant of engineers, he supervised the engineering work for St. Louis harbor and for the upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers. His work there earned him a promotion to captain. In 1841, he was transferred to Fort Hamilton in New York harbor, where he took charge of building fortifications. When war broke out between the United States and Mexico in 1846, the army sent Lee to Texas to serve as assiezt engineer under General John E. Wool. All his superior officers, especially General Winfield Scott, were impressed with Lee. Early in the war, Lee supervised the construction of bridges for Wool's march toward the Mexican border. He then did excellent work on scouting trips. Lee later was helping General Winfield Scott plan a great battle. The Army was about to attack Vera Cruz, a large Mexican town on the sea. The attack began. Soldiers fired huge guns at the walls of Vera Cruz. One of the men at the guns happened to be Robert's brother, Smith Lee. When he could, Lee went to ezd by his brother's gun. "I could see his white teeth through all the smoke of the fire"1 Lee said, in a letter to Mary. The Mexicans soon gave up Vera Cruz. General Scott thanked Lee for his work. Now the Army could move on to the Mexican capital. The march to Mexico City would be hard. General Scott asked Lee to find the best way to go. And he asked him to see what Santa Anna, the Mexican general, was doing. To get news for Scott, Lee went behind the lines of enemy soldiers. This was dangerous work. Once when Lee was behind enemy lines he heard voices. Mexican soldiers were coming to drink at a spring. Lee jumped under a log. More Mexicans came. They sat on the log and talked. Lee had to hide there until dark. Lee found out many things for Scott. Once he even found a secret road for the army. He was extremely brave. At Cerro Gordo he led the first line of men into battle. The Americans won. Lee then wrote to his son, Custis, "You have no idea what a horrible sight a field of battle is."2 Then came the biggest battle of the war. The Americans attacked a fort outside Mexico City. Lee planned the attack. For days he worked without sleep. He

Chaining Forward and Chaining Backwards

Chaining Forward and Chaining Backwards When teaching life skills such as dressing, grooming or perhaps even cooking, a special educator often has to break down the task to be taught in small discrete steps. The first step for teaching a life skill is to complete a task analysis. Once the task analysis is complete, the teacher needs to decide how it is to be taught: chaining forward, or chaining backward? Chaining Whenever we do a complete, multistep task, we complete the component parts in a specific order (though there can be some flexibility.) We start at some point and complete each step, one step at a time. Since these tasks are sequential we refer to teaching them step-by-step as chaining. Chaining Forward When chaining forward, the instructional program starts with the beginning of the task sequence. After each step is mastered, instruction begins at the next step. Depending on how severely a students abilities are compromised by their disability will depend on what level of support the student will need for each step of instruction. If a child is unable to learn the step by having it modeled and then imitating it, it may be necessary to provide hand over hand prompting, fading instructional prompting to verbal and then gestural prompts. As each step is mastered, the student completes the step after begin given a verbal command (prompt?) and then begins instruction in the next step. Each time the student has completed the part of the tasks they have he or she has mastered, the instructor will complete the other steps, either modeling or hand over handing the tasks in the order you will be teaching the student. An Example of Chaining Forward Angela is pretty severely cognitively disabled. She is learning life skills with therapeutic support staff (TSS) aid provided by the county mental health organization. Rene (her aide) is working on teaching her independent grooming skills. She can wash her hands independently, with the simple command, Angela, its time to wash your hand. Wash your hands. She has just begun to learn how to brush her teeth. She will follow this forward chain: Angela gets the pink toothbrush from her cup and the toothpaste from the top vanity drawer.When she has mastered this step, she will unscrew the cap, she will wet the bristles and put the paste on the bristles.When she has mastered opening the toothpaste and squirting it on the brush, the child needs to open his, her mouth wide and begin to brush the top teeth. I would divide this into several steps and teach it over a couple of weeks: Up and down on the bottom and top on the side opposite the dominant hand, up and down on the same side, up and down in front and back of the front teeth. Once the whole sequence is mastered, the student can move on to:Rinsing the toothpaste out, front and back. This step will have to be modeled: there is no way to hand over hand this skill.Replace the toothpaste cap, put the cap, brush and rinsing cup away. An Example of Backward Chaining Jonathon, aged 15, lives at a residential facility. One of the goals in his residential IEP is to do his own laundry. In his facility, there is a two to one ratio of staff to students, so Rahul is the evening staff member for Jonathon and Andrew. Andrew is also 15, and also has a laundry goal, so Rahul has Andrew watch as Jonathon does his laundry on Wednesday, and Andrew does his laundry on Friday. Chaining Laundry Backwards Rahul completes each of the steps Jonathon will need to complete the laundry, modeling and reciting each step. i.e. First we separate the colors and the whites.Next we will put the dirty whites in the washing machine.Now we measure the soap (Rahul might choose to have Jonathon open the soap container if twisting off lids is one of Jonathons already acquired skills.)Now we choose the water temperature. Hot for whites, cold for colors.Now we turn the dial to regular wash.Now we close the lid and pull out the dial.Rahul gives Jonathon a couple of choices for waiting: Looking at books? Playing a game on the iPad? He may also stop Jonathon from his game and check out where the machine is in the process.Oh, the machine is done spinning. Lets put the wet clothing in the dryer.Lets set the drying for 60 minutes.(When the buzzer goes off.) Is the laundry dry? Lets feel it? Yes, lets take it out and fold it. At this point, Jonathon would assist in taking the dry laundry out of the dryer. With assistance, he would fold the clothing, matching socks and stacking white underwear and t-shirts in the correct pile s. In backward chaining, Jonathon would observe Rahul do the laundry and would begin by assisting with removing the laundry and folding it. When he has reached an acceptable level of independence (I wouldnt demand perfection) you would back up, and have Jonathon set the dryer and push the start button. After that is mastered, he would back up to removing the wet clothing from the washer and putting it in the dryer. The purpose of backward chaining is the same as that of forward chaining: to help the student gain independence and mastery in a skill that he or she can use for the rest of their life. Whether you, as the practitioner, choose forward or backward chaining will depend on the childs strengths and your perception of where the student will be most successful. His or her success is the real measure of the most effective way to chain, either forward, or backward.