How to Hire Smart Startup Marketers

How to Hire Smart Startup Marketers It has always been one of the biggest business challenges to find, recruit, and retain the best staff.As you grow a startup, you need to grow the team.This expansion is fraught with difficulty; from cultivating the right working culture to managing tasks, communication, and collaboration across departments.I work in startup growth marketing. This means I’ve spent a lot of time with businesses during their most volatile and exciting period. The companies I work with are VC-backed and growing quickly.But success is on a knife-edge, and the marketing team is central to sustained growth.Building a great startup marketing team is no mean feat: under pressure, it becomes a huge challenge.In this article, you will learn the common mistakes made when hiring startup marketers, and you will learn which qualities are demanded from a growth marketing leader in the startup environment.COMMON MISTAKES WHEN HIRING STARTUP MARKETERSDuring my research, I searched around the major business and start up websites to get their take on the biggest startup hiring mistakes. Unfortunately, most of the advice out there is vague and questionable.A common thread is to “not hire people you know” when in fact I believe that your network is a huge asset. Naturally, you shouldn’t hire people just because you know them.But how many smart startup founders actually do that? I’d hazard a guess: not many.If you know the experience and achievements of someone in your network that would be a good fit by all means get them on board!Furthermore, I see advice on not filling roles in a rush.As any startup founder will know, this isn’t a luxury afforded to businesses during fast growth.You need to hire fast; that’s just a fact. The key is to hire fast without taking dangerous risks or disrupting a positive company culture.In this first section, I will give you insights about the mistakes I see first-hand when startups are hiring marketers during early-stage growth.I’ll also look at the ba ckground principles of recruitment, whether you’re hiring a leader or a mid-level marketer (i.e. senior executive).1. Searching for a candidate who doesn’t existI agree with one common piece of advice out there: there’s no magic candidate who fulfils multiple roles at the same time. I come across this pitfall frequently.Startup founders try to fit too much into one candidate, and this person simply doesn’t exist.They’ll look for someone who has deep experience and knowledge in programmatic ads, web analytics, and product analytics with a sideline in marketing automation, affiliates, content marketing, and graphic design.Oh, and let’s throw coding into the mix!Whilst the startup environment demands a certain “all hands to the pump” mentality, it’s unrealistic to expect one person to comprehensively cover all of these bases.We’re all human, after all.With this in mind, what should you do instead when building a startup marketing team?Narrow down and get stuck into the details of what you need and why you need it.When hiring startup marketers, I recommend focusing on the three to five most important specific areas where they can make an impact.The more specific, the better. You should think about “jobs to be done” rather than get distracted by broad skill-sets.It might sound like common sense, but you need to get the right person for the role. To help startups do this, I’ve created a methodology for refining who you need: At the start of this process, I list about two hundred specialist marketing areas. Next, I group these marketing areas into dozens of corresponding categories.I go through these categories methodically with the startup founder, and ask him or her to rate the importance of each area.The final scores are tallied-up to give an overview of what they actually need from a candidate.For example, this process might show that marketing automation is a true priority, whereas TV and Radio isn’t required at all.Without this clarity, TV and Radio experience might seem vaguely appealing to a startup founder who wants to future-proof and cover multiple bases.Here’s what the end-result might look like, after the scoring process: Source: Oren GreenbergAs you can see, this graph gives a very clear overview of the five important areas: marketing automation, paid advertising, web/product analytics, conversion rate optimization, and search marketing.In my experience, 80% of startup growth tends to come through one channel.Two at most. It’s tempting to hire for a broad range of capabilities, but even this concise graph above could be narrowed down more.If we’re looking for three to five specialisms needed for this startup, it’s marketing automation, paid advertising, and web/product analytics that should be the focus when sorting through candidates.2. Ill-defined job advertsStartups tend to emphasize attitude and cultural fit in their job adverts, and this creates a vague set of requirements. Instead, I would lean towards a more solid and detailed job description focused on competencies, skills, and technologies.Ultimately, you will need to source a pool of candidates with the right knowledge to get a resul t. The interview process will then be used to uncover good-fit potential.In addition, maintaining a “quirky” startup identity can sometimes get in the way of hiring the best talent.A title like “Head of Vision” or “Chief Engagement Officer” sounds interesting, but often limits the response because it’s unclear what you’re actually looking for.When you’re running a fast-growth startup, you need to hire quickly. You can’t afford to create ambiguity. Keep the ad simple and clear.As Martin says in his Cleverism article about writing the perfect job adverts, “titles should make use of descriptive words that anyone will immediately recognize and understand the moment they lay their eyes on it.”This will guarantee better exposure among the relevant groups of candidates.3. Hiring for the wrong strategyStartups sometimes hire perfect candidates for the wrong strategy.For example, a startup might aim to acquire customers through organic search marketing, and hire someo ne who can get results with SEO and content.However, if the competition is deemed too fierce or search volume is too low, it’s impossible to succeed by relying on this channel.If the business pivots to paid channels only, the SEO-focused marketer is no longer a good fit for the job at hand.Furthermore, product-market fit is absolutely critical and it directly impacts marketing hires. If the product isn’t performing, marketing investment just accelerates the demise of the business.Building a growth team to push a product or service without establishing its feasibility in the market is a sure-fire way to burn through cash.Whilst this is a product problem rather than a hiring problem, it’s important to stop and take stock of product-market fit before you build an expensive marketing machine.4. Recruiting people into silos If a startup organization is split into silos, even the most talented marketing recruit will find it difficult to make an impact.Full-funnel marketers rely on integrating data analysis with product, sales, design (UX/UI), and more.Without a full view of the landscape, it’s impossible to make informed decisions about content, growth channels, and marketing budget allocation.This is especially true for SaaS startups, who rely heavily on usage data to optimize acquisition and retention of customers.WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM A GROWTH LEAD?Lots of startups rush into hiring a CMO or Head of Growth. I believe that businesses in their earliest stage do need this strategic vision, advice, and experience but on a part-time or freelance basis.Startups need to remain nimble at the outset, so putting all the eggs in one basket is a risk. According to Glassdoor, the average pay packet for a CMO in the UK is £115,000.That’s high caliber. As an on-demand CMO, I often work in partnership with “acting” growth leads who are founders or co-founders.I provide advice and strategic direction for in-house teams or external agency partners, without burdenin g the business with a huge salary outlay. This setup seems to work for many startups.In my view, a startup needs to be in or beyond Series A funding before it hires a full-time Head of Growth, and in or beyond Series B funding before it hires a full-time CMO.Until that point, it’s reasonable to stitch together a part-time or outsourced team to gain experience without a heavy investment in senior staff.I usually advocate getting a specialist for two or three days per week, rather than getting a junior marketer to hack at the strategy. The latter rarely works, from my experience.Your growth lead, whether part-time or full-time, needs to be a T-shaped marketer.Put simply, this means cross-discipline competence with deep discipline expertise. It is up to the startup to figure out in which areas they need deep knowledge.In most cases, T-shaped marketers have worked at startups before; getting their hands dirty with tactical tasks in a pressured environment. Source: Benjamin SlapMost experts argue that past startup experience is required, and I tend to agree.There’s a mindset of resourcefulness, proactivity, and initiative that comes with having worked at startups. Furthermore, your growth lead should be comfortable with uncertainty.Startups are volatile and challenging, but they present an incredible opportunity if you crack the code to success.Past experience also needs to be seen in the context of industry and sector: for example, a B2B SaaS growth lead will have a very different background to a D2C eCommerce growth lead. The mindset and processes are very distinct.Strangely, I often see startups desiring development and coding skills in their job adverts for senior marketing hires.Granted, we’re living in an age where technical skills are valuable but in truth this is very rare to find.In a recent cohort of ten growth leaders I interviewed, only one candidate had hands-on coding experience. So, whilst it is desirable, startups n eed to understand that it’s unlikely.Finally, the best growth leads often have an interest (or even a trained background) in psychology and behavioral economics.This is a distinct advantage in shaping how they approach marketing strategy. It’s certainly a nice-to-have (versus must-have), but it’s worth considering the benefits of a candidate who can demonstrate knowledge of the how, why, when, and where of human behavior.KEY TAKEAWAYSRecruitment is a challenge, especially for startups. When the stakes are so high, every hire needs to be push the business forward.It can be tempting to go for a marketing generalist, but this person often doesn’t provide deep enough value in critical growth channels.Startups with limited budgets also take on juniors, in the hope that they can hack at growth.But without experienced guidance, this is a mistake.Whilst cross-discipline capability is essential for startup marketers, ideally this should be in the T-shaped format.Deep knowledge in a f ew key areas, backed by an understanding of the broader marketing landscape and the interconnectivity between different areas.It’s valuable for marketers on all levels of the ladder to grow into T-shaped professionals; this will give their team balance and broad expertise.Most importantly, startup founders and senior management should clearly define their short-term, medium-term, and long-term needs through “jobs to be done”.This will help the business hire for best-fit rather than focusing on skills in isolation.The scoring framework I outlined in the first section of this article is one way to make the recruitment process more objective, and it will help you zone-in on candidates who offer serious value in the most business-critical areas.If you’re building a startup marketing team right now, good luck and enjoy the ride! AUTHOR BIOOren Greenberg is a growth marketer and founder of the Kurve consultancy in London. He helps startups and corporate innovation projects scale using digital channels. He has written for leading marketing blogs and has been featured in the international press.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - 745 Words

The Great Gatsby is the novel that is based on how rich people were back in the old days. This Novel takes us through the early 1900’s where the narrator, Nick Carraway meets secretive Mr. Gatsby who is a Trimachio which means that he once was a poor young kid who believed in a greater future and by the time he gets older he becomes this very wealthy man who hosts lavish banquets. We are following Mr. Gatsby’s journey to the love of his life, Daisy who is Nick’s cousin. Since Gatsby has been gone for almost 5 years Daisy got married to another man called Tom. The novel ends with Gatsby being shot to death and no one was there to his funeral besides reporters and photographers, who Nick angrily chases out. F. Scott Fitzgerald who is the author of this novel is trying to send a message to the readers. In this novel we get to see Fitzgerald’s opinion since everything is based on how the rich people get all the big opportunities and yet still do not seem to use these possibilities fully. For instance all what Gatsby does is spending a ton of money on host parties for people who is or believe they are in a higher social class. Even though we are able to see that Fitzgerald do not like the rich people, it seems like it rankled him enough to pay so much attention on them. He once said â€Å"I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works.† He wants to express his opinion through the stories, but in a way that the middle classShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald1393 Words   |  6 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald was the model of the American image in the nineteen twenties. He had wealth, fame, a beautiful wife , and an adorable daughter; all seemed perfect. Beneath the gilded faà §ade, however, was an author who struggled with domestic and physical difficulties that plagued his personal life and career throughout its short span. 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Scott Fitzgerald1607 Words   |  7 Pages The Great Gatsby is an American novel written in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of the themes of the book is the American Dream. The American Dream is an idea in which Americans believe through hard work they can achieve success and prosperity in the free world. In F. Scott Fitzgerald s novel, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream leads to popularity, extreme jealousy and false happiness. Jay Gatsby’s recent fortune and wealthiness helped him earn a high social position and become one of the mostRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1592 Words   |  7 PagesMcGowan English 11A, Period 4 9 January 2014 The Great Gatsby Individuals who approach life with an optimistic mindset generally have their goals established as their main priority. Driven by ambition, they are determined to fulfill their desires; without reluctance. These strong-minded individuals refuse to be influenced by negative reinforcements, and rely on hope in order to achieve their dreams. As a man of persistence, the wealthy Jay Gatsby continuously strives to reclaim the love of hisRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1646 Words   |  7 PagesThe 1920s witnessed the death of the American Dream, a message immortalized in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Initially, the American Dream represented the outcome of American ideals, that everyone has the freedom and opportunity to achieve their dreams provided they perform honest hard work. During the 1920s, the United States experienced massive economic prosperity making the American Dream seem alive and strong. However, in Fitzgerald’s eyes, the new Am erican culture build around that

A Cohesive Well Thought Response - 2021 Words

Exam #3 is due by 11:59 p.m. by the Friday of Week 8 via LiveText - Dec. 16, 2016. Using the information you assimilated in this course, answer the following questions in a cohesive well thought response. You may use bullet points or paragraphs, but ensure your answers are complete and thorough. 1. Explain McLuhan’s claim that â€Å"The Medium is the Message†. (2 pts) McLuhan’s claim that â€Å"The Medium is the Message† signifies that the approach of a transmitted message does matter. The reason as to why is that it affects how it is obtained by recipients which can manipulate their overall perception. This dominant form of communication also influences the substance in modifying how we interact and behave alongside our values and norms. These effects happen to stem from numerous definitions of media and its content for users such as hot (filled with information lacking in participation to think and active engagement furthering passive behavior) and cold (short of data requiring mental activity to be involved) media. Ultimately, this assertion pinpoints the role of media ecology in that mass media is the sole foundation of cultural life in society. 2. Using BOTH the principles/ parts of the theory AND your own experiences, discuss Cultivation Theory AND how media intake is cumulative. (2 pts) The cultivation theory address an association of television to violence creating a pervasive impact of our view of the world. These fears, unfortunately, formulated a medium ofShow MoreRelatedJob Satisfaction and Its Consequences1577 Words   |  7 Pagesturnover. 1) Economic Conditions/Unemployment Rate. 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Servant leadership combines being able to identify and meet the needs of employees and patients by using the characteristicsRead MoreServant Leadership : A Good Leader1442 Words   |  6 PagesServant Leadership The terms servant and leader are typically thought of as being contradictory terms. However, the theory of servant leadership has started gaining more and more notoriety over the last several years. Many organizations are learning that the management and leadership styles of the past are no longer inspiring or influencing the workers of today (Hunter, 1998). Servant leadership combines being able to identify and meet the needs of employees and patients by using the characteristicsRead MoreTruly, In The United States Many Teams Building Company1042 Words   |  5 Pagestraining is developed in collaboration with the future company’s mission and values. 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History of Early Childhood Education †Comenius, Froebel, Montessori Free Essays

Paper History of Early Childhood Education Comenius, Froebel, Montessori 1. John Amos Comenius John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) was a Czech theologian, philosopher, teacher and writer who thought education could improve society. He advocated universal textbooks language and believed children would enjoy learning more if they were methodically taught in early years. We will write a custom essay sample on History of Early Childhood Education – Comenius, Froebel, Montessori or any similar topic only for you Order Now Comenius thought instruction should move from general to specific, from easy to difficult and believed to engage children with nature. He taught that education began in the earliest days of childhood, and continued throughout life. Comenius believed in four different schools for different ages: -Nursery School – birth to 6 years of age, where hands-on learning, active experiences and sensory learning are of importance. 2 -Elementary (National) – ages 6 to 12 -Latin School (Gymnasium) – ages 13 -18 -Academy – gifted ages 19-24 From his point of view teachers should present lessons at a reasonable pace, use age-appropriate instruction, keep materials constantly before a child’s eyes and use a single method of instruction at all times. Comenius rejected the conventional wisdom that children were inherently bad and that teachers needed to use corporal punishment to discipline them. 3 He was the first to promote continuing education and the first to advocate equal education for all, including women and the poor. Furthermore he wrote the Great Didactic (a textbook for curriculum and education) and was the first to use pictures in text books for teaching children (Orbis Pictus). â€Å"His philosophy of Pansophism (meaning ‘all knowledge’) attempted to incorporate theology, philosophy, and education into one. He believed that learning, spiritual, and emotional growth were all woven together† – especially in the teaching of children. â€Å"What Comenius referred to as the Via Lucis, or ‘way of light,’ was the pursuit of higher learning and spiritual enlightenment bound together. † 4 In 1641/42 he was asked to completely restructure the school system of Sweden. As the Bishop of the Unitas Fratrum, the Moravian Church, Comenius was asked to be the first President of Harvard College, but declined. He died in Amsterdam in 1670. â€Å"Comenius’s theory incorporated spiritual love of human beings with emphasis on Nature’s goodness. 5 He was a naturalistic educator who believed children were innately good and learned most effectively and efficiently by examining objects in their immediate natural environment. â€Å"Comenius anticipated many practices associated with modern child-centered progressive education. † 6 He believed that teaching should build on children’s interests and actively involve their senses. During his lifetime he published 154 books, mostly dealing with educational philosophy and theology. Known today as the ‘Father of Modern Education,’ he pioneered modern educational methods. 1Comenius Foundation, 2013, in: http://comeniusfoundation. org/pages/why-comenius/comenius-biography. php 2Essa Young (19 94), p. 36 3www. wou. edu/~girodm/foundations/pioneers. pdf, p. 106 4Comenius Foundation, 2013, in: http://comeniusfoundation. org/pages/why-comenius/comenius-biography. php 5www. wou. edu/~girodm/foundations/pioneers. pdf, p. 106 6www. wou. edu/~girodm/foundations/pioneers. pdf, p. 107 2. Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel The German educationalist Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel was born in 1782. From 1798 to 1800 he was an apprentice to a forester and surveyor in Neuhaus, and attended the University of Jena from 1800 to 1802. In 1805 Froebel briefly studied architecture in Frankfurt, got hired as a teacher and took a short course with Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi at Yverdon, where he interned from 1808 to 1810. Although he accepted certain aspects of Pestalozzi’s method – the emphasis on nature, the permissive school atmosphere and the object lesson – he believed that Pestalozzi’s theory lacked an adequate philosophical foundation. Froebel gave Pestalozzi’s object lesson a more symbolic meaning by saying that the concrete object was to stimulate recall of a corresponding idea in the child’s mind. He accepted Pestalozzi’s general method that saw schools as emotionally secure places for children, but he elevated the concept to a highly spiritual level. Like Pestalozzi, he wanted to prepare teachers who would be sensitive to children’s readiness and needs. 7 Furthermore Froebel studied languages and science at the University of Gottingen from 1810 to 1812 . He wanted to identify linguistic structures that could be applied to language instruction. From 1812 to 1816 Froebel studied mineralogy at the University of Berlin. He believed the process of crystallization, moving from simple to complex, reflected a universal cosmic law that also governed human growth and development. Froebel was influenced by two trends in the first half of the 19th century: a resurgence of philosophical idealism and the rising nationalism of the post-Napoleonic eras. Idealism emphasizes a spiritually based reality. Idealists saw the nation as embodying the world spirit on earth. During Froebel’s life, there were efforts to unite the various small German kingdoms into one large nation. He believed that an education that emphasized German traditions and folk tales would advance this cause. Froebel’s idealism was a reaction against the empiricism of Locke and Rosseau. However, his educational philosophy emphasized the dignity of child nature as recommended by Rousseau and Pestalozzi. In 1816 Froebel established the Universal German Educational Institute at Griesheim. He moved the institute to Keilhau in 1817 where it functioned until 1829. In 1818 Froebel married Henrietta Wilhelmine Hoffmeister (1780–1839), who assisted him until her death. In 1831 Froebel established an institute at Wartensee on Lake Sempach in Switzerland and then relocated the school to Willisau. Froebel next operated an orphanage and boarding school at Burgdorf. He believed that every child’s inner self contained a spiritual essence that stimulated self-active learning. He therefore designed the kindergarten system for children under the age of six (1837) that would be a prepared environment to externalize children’s interior spirituality through self-activity using play, songs, stories, and activities. He developed special materials (such as shaped wooden bricks and balls), a series of recommended activities (occupations) and movement activities (fine motor skills). This particular curriculum – now a standard part of early childhood education – stimulated children’s cognitive, social, emotional, creative and physical development. Froebel’s reputation as an early childhood educator increased and kindergartens were established throughout the German states. In 1852 Froebel passed away. By the end of the nineteenth century, kindergartens had been established throughout Europe and North America. 4 7http://education. stateuniversity. com/pages/1999/Froebel-Friedrich-1782-1852. html 3. Maria Montessori On August 31st, 1870 Maria Montessori was born at Chiaravalle, Italy. Her father, Alessandro Montessori, worked for the civil service, and her mother, Renilde Stoppani, came from an academic family and was well educated. The Montessori family moved to Rome in 1875, and the following year Maria enrolled in the local state school on the Via di San Nicolo da Tolentino. At 12, Montessori expressed her intention to attend what was called a technical school for her secondary education, which was unusual at the time as most girls who pursued secondary education studied the classics. From 1886 to 1890 she continued her studies at the Regio Instituto Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci, which she entered with the intention of becoming an engineer. This decision didn’t find favor with her father, who believed that the education of females should be restricted to certain subjects. Upon her graduation, Montessori was determined to enter medical school and become a doctor. Her father opposed this course—medical school was then an all-male preserve—and initially Maria was refused entry by the head of the school. 8 In 1890, with her mother’s support, Montessori obtained her father’s reluctant permission to attend the University of Rome to study physics, mathematics and natural sciences, receiving her diploma two years later. This and the Pope’s intercession enabled her to enter the College of Medicine, and she became the first woman to enter medical school in Italy. Montessori stood out not just because of her gender, but because she was actually intent on mastering the subject matter. She awarded for her work in pathology by winning a series of scholarships at medical school which, together with the money she earned through private tuition, enabled her to pay for most of her medical education. In 1895 she won a position as assistant in the University hospital. Montessori’s time at medical school was a challenge, because her male colleagues showed their disapproval of her presence and she had to work alone on dissections since these were not allowed to be done in mixed classes. But she was a dedicated student and graduated in June 1896 at the top of her class as a specialist in surgery and in the diseases of women and children. She became the first woman to qualify as a doctor in Italy, and with this distinction also became known across the country. She was immediately employed in the San Giovanni Hospital attached to the University. Later that year she was asked to represent Italy at the International Congress for Women’s Rights in Berlin, where she talked about the progress of education for women in Italy. In November 1896 Montessori added the appointment as surgical assistant at Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome to her portfolio of tasks. In 1897 she volunteered to join a research program at the psychiatric clinic of the University of Rome, and it was here that she worked alongside Giusseppe Montesano, with whom she would have a child a few years later. As part of her work at the clinic she would visit Rome’s asylums for the insane, seeking patients for treatment at the clinic. Montessori discovered that many children with mental, physical, or emotional disabilities, who couldn’t stay at home or go to school or work, were being kept in asylums alongside adults with major psychiatric disorders. She came to realize that in such a bare, unfurnished environment the children were desperate for sensorial stimulation and activities for their hands, and that this deprivation was contributing to their condition. She began to read what others had published about working with children with various disabilities and in particular she studied the groundbreaking work of two early 19th century Frenchmen, Jean-Marc Itard and Edouard Seguin, his student. 5 8A Biography of Dr Maria Montessori, in: http://montessori. org. au/montessori/biography. htm Itard had developed a technique of education through the senses, which Seguin later tried to adapt to mainstream education. Seguin emphasized respect and understanding for each individual child. He created a practical apparatus and equipment to help develop the child’s sensory perceptions and motor skills, which Montessori was later to use in new ways. From 1897-98 she attended courses in pedagogy, studying the works of Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Froebel. In 1898 Montessori was becoming known for her work with and ideas about education for children with disabilities. In 1899, she began teaching at a college for the training of female teachers, and there she further explored and discussed ideas about education. Then, in 1900, as a result of her work with children in hospitals and asylums, Montessori was asked to become the co-director of the Orthophrenic School for children with various disabilities that prevented them from doing well in regular schools. Montessori spent 2 years working at the Orthophrenic School, experimenting with and refining the materials devised by Itard and Seguin and bringing a scientific, analytical attitude to the work; teaching and observing the children by day and writing up her notes by night. In 1898 Maria gave birth to a child, a boy named Mario, who was given into the care of a family who lived in the countryside near Rome. In 1901 Montessori left the Orthophrenic School and immersed herself in her own studies of educational philosophy and anthropology. In 1904 she took up a post as a lecturer at the Pedagogic School of the University of Rome, which she held until 1908. 9 During this period Rome was experiencing rapid population growth and industrialization. In the fever of speculative development, some construction companies were going bankrupt, leaving unfinished building projects which quickly attracted squatters. One such development, which stood in the San Lorenzo district, was rescued by a group of wealthy bankers who undertook a basic restoration, dividing larger apartments into small units for impoverished working families. Many children not old enough for school or work were being left alone while their parents went to work each day. These unsupervised children were vandalizing the newly renovated buildings and getting into other kinds of trouble. This prompted the developers to approach Dr. Montessori to provide ways of occupying the children during the day to prevent further damage to the premises. Montessori grasped the opportunity and established her first Casa dei Bambini or ‘Children’s House’. What Montessori came to realize was that children who were placed in an environment where activities were designed to support their natural development had the power to educate themselves (autoeducation). By the autumn of 1908 there were five Case dei Bambini operating, four in Rome and one in Milan. Children in a Casa dei Bambini made extraordinary progress, and soon 5-year-olds were writing and reading. In the summer of 1909 Montessori gave the first training course in her approach to around 100 students. He published her first book that same year in Italy, which appeared in translation in the United States in 1912 as The Montessori Method, reaching second place on the U. S. nonfiction bestseller list. Soon afterwards it was translated into 20 different languages and has become a major influence in the field of education. A period of great expansion in the Montessori approach now followed in Europe and America. By 1933 all Montessori schools in Germany had been closed. In the same year, after Montessori refused to cooperate with Mussolini’s plans to incorporate Italian Montessori schools into the fascist youth movement, he closed them all down. 9A Biography of Dr Maria Montessori, in: http://montessori. org. au/montessori/biography. htm 6 The outbreak of civil war in Spain forced the family to abandon their home in Barcelona, and they sailed to England in the summer of 1936. From England the refugees travelled to the Netherlands. In 1939 Montessori and her son Mario traveled to India to give a 3-month training course in Madras followed by a lecture tour; they were not to return for nearly 7 years. With the outbreak of war, as Italian citizens, Mario was interned and Montessori put under house arrest. She was well looked after in India, where she met Gandhi, Nehru and Tagore. Her 70th birthday request to the Indian government, that Mario should be released and restored to her, was granted. Together they trained over a thousand Indian teachers. In 1946 they returned to the Netherlands. A year later Montessori addressed UNESCO on the theme ‘Education and Peace’. In 1949 she received the first of three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. Her last public engagement was in London in 1951 when she attended the 9th International Montessori Congress. On May 6th 1952, at the holiday home of the Pierson family in the Netherlands, she passed away in the company of her son, Mario, to whom she bequeathed the legacy of her work. 10 10A Biography of Dr Maria Montessori, in: http://montessori. org. au/montessori/biography. htm 7 References: A Biography of Dr Maria Montessori, in: http://montessori. rg. au/montessori/biography. htm Comenius Foundation, 2013, in: http://comeniusfoundation. org/pages/why-comenius/comeniusbiography. php E. M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work (New York 1984), p. 38. Essa, E. Young, R. (2003). Introduction to early childhood education (3rd Can. ed. ). Nelson: Canada Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852) – Biography, Froebel’s Kindergarten Philosophy, The Kindergarten Curriculum, Diffusion of the Kindergarten, in: http://education. stateuniversity. com/pages/1999/Froebel-Friedrich-1782-1852. html Julia Maria, â€Å"’Le Feminisme Italien: entrevue avec Mlle. Montessori†, How to cite History of Early Childhood Education – Comenius, Froebel, Montessori, Essay examples

Relationship between Literature and Gender in A Room Of One’s Own Essay Example

Relationship between Literature and Gender in A Room Of One’s Own Essay How does Woolf understand the relationship between literature, sex and gender in A Room Of One’s Own? The relations between literature and gender are historically complicated with issues of economic and social discrimination. Woman’s writing is still a relatively new area, and Woolf examines how their creativity has been hampered by poverty and oppression. Women have not produced great works like those of Shakespeare, Milton and Coleridge, and she sees this as a result not only of the degrading effects of patriarchy on the mind but of the relative poverty of the female sex. A woman ‘must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. ’ Men have historically fed money back into the systems that keep them in power, and made it legally impossible for a woman to have her own money. The narrator’s two meals at ‘Oxbridge’ illustrate the institutional sexism in the education system, with the poorer woman’s college providing a mediocre meal compared to the one at the men’s. Furthermore, a woman’s traditional role as a child bearer leaves no time to earn; and without such independence, women are shut up in the houses of their husbands or fathers without the privacy needed to write without interruptions. Woolf demonstrates such interruptions within the text as the narrator’s thoughts are often hindered; she has an idea which is ‘exciting and important’ which is forgotten as ‘the figure of a man rose up to intercept me. ’ She is forbidden to enter the library, a strong symbol of the denial of education and knowledge to women. We will write a custom essay sample on Relationship between Literature and Gender in A Room Of One’s Own specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Relationship between Literature and Gender in A Room Of One’s Own specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Relationship between Literature and Gender in A Room Of One’s Own specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In considering the extent and effect of these inequalities, she discovers that she has been thinking not objectively but with anger. Although ‘one does not like to be told that one is naturally the inferior of a little man,’ she is aware that anger disrupts what should be a clear and rational mind. However, it appears that the men in power, the ‘professors,’ are also angry. They insist quite aggressively upon the inferiority of woman, but Woolf believes that the professor is in fact ‘not concerned with their inferiority, but with his own superiority. Without confidence we are but ‘babes in the cradle,’ and the quickest way to gain this invaluable quality is simply by ‘thinking that other people are inferior to oneself. ’ Thus the narrator see’s the professor’s degradation of woman as a ‘looking glass’ effect, with a woman serving to reflect the figure of a man ‘at twice his natural size. â€⠄¢ With her five hundred pounds a year, the narrator has a personal and creative freedom which allows her to be detached and objective. While woman in fiction tend to be of ‘utmost importance,’ in real life they are ‘completely insignificant. In order to believe in himself the patriarch must not have his power challenged; and this accounts for the wider societal hostility towards the woman writer. Like Currer Bell and Mary Shelly, women are forced into anonymity by the sense of chastity dictated to them. For society met the woman writer, unlike the male, not with ‘indifference but hostility. ’ Such brutal hostility is indeed why it would be near impossible for a sixteenth century woman to write the works of Shakespeare. Woolf uses a hypothetical example of a fictional sister of Shakespeare, Judith, to illustrate this. She has the same gift as her bother, but she wouldn’t have been send to school. She would have been told to mend stockings when caught reading; she would have to hide her work. To escape a forced marriage, Judith would run away, and at the stage door when she said she wanted to act, as her brother had, ‘men laughed in her face. ’ Alone and now an outcast, she would have inevitably ended up with child, a broken chastity which severed completely her from the wider world. Driven to madness and then suicide, she would die in obscurity. Indeed society’s outcasts are often such women, who, suffering with their gift, are taken to near madness as that figure of a man always rises to intercept them. The tales of those who are on the fringes of society are of ‘witches;’ perhaps suppressed poets and novelists who were ‘crazed with the torture’ that their gift had caused them. A sixteenth century woman with Shakespeare’s gift would have ‘ended her days in some lonely cottage outside the village, half witch, half wizard, feared and mocked at. Such women are so far from the normal expectations of femininity that they are stripped of humanity and made unnatural half male and female, ‘witch and wizard. ’ With the ‘enormous body of masculine opinion’ against her intellectual capabilities, a woman would have her mind ‘strained and her vitality lowered. ’ While Shakespeare’s mind was ‘incandescent,’ allowing intellectual freed om and genius, a woman’s mind will be like of Lady Winchilsea; ‘harassed and distracted with hates and grievances. ’ Lady Winchilsea suffered from these hates and her poems show it. Her feelings seem inevitable given the ‘sneers and the laughter’ that a woman writer would experience. Duchess Margaret of Newcastle was certainly called mad, her untutored intelligence running out in ‘torrents of rhyme and prose,’ her wits ‘turned with solitude and freedom. ’ For Judith, ‘had she survived, whatever she had written would have been twisted and deformed, issuing from a strained and morbid imagination. ’ And it would have been deemed insignificant. The narrator asserts that the values of woman often differ from the values of men and ‘yet is it the masculine values that prevail. This is invariably transferred from life to fiction, and if the writer is to explore their world, then the feelings of woman in a drawing room make for an insignificant book, not as valuable as a book about war. In order to write War and Peace, Tolstoi’s many and varied experiences of the world were invaluable, and he could not have written is if he had lived in the seclusion of Eliot or the Bronte’s. This is why Austen writes with so much integrity, simply using her many observations of the common sitting room, where ‘personal relations were always before her eyes. Anger interferes with the integrity of Charlotte Bronte, and the narrator believes that we ‘constantly feel an acidity which is a result of oppression,’ in her writing. More importantly however, like other woman novelists she is distracted and changed by patriarchal criticism. The female novelist ended up ‘thinking of something other then the thing in itself,’ by ‘admitting that she was ‘only a woman’ or protesting that she was ‘as good as a man. ’ The criticism makes them acutely aware of their gender, with the following anger causing them to write about themselves, not their subjects. Austen and Emily Bronte did not alter their values ‘in deference to the opinions of others. ’ They have lasted because they wrote ‘as woman write, not as men write. ’ The man’s sentence, though perfect for Johnson and Dickens, is ‘unsuited for a woman’s use,’ and Austen adapted it to what felt natural for her. The shape of a novel is also built by men, but while other forms of literature were hardened and set in a male dominated literary tradition the novel was ‘young enough to be soft in her hands. Women wrote novels because they were adapted to their needs, and ‘framed so that they do not need long hours of steady and uninterrupted work. ’ The nineteen year old Mary Shelly was a silent listener amongst her husband’s intellectual circle. Self educated, she wrote Frankenstein which was published in 1818, however many believed it to be her husbands work as a young girl could surly not write such a dark stor y. John Wilson Crokers review said the author could be as mad as his hero. Her protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, locks himself in seclusion to create. His creation, like Shelly’s novel, is in itself a hideous progeny, a name she gave to her own novel which seemed at the time to be so unfeminine’ as to be monstrous. But for or the female novelist expressing values thought of as just feminine and thus so far unexplored by the great male writers, ‘so much as been left out, unatempted’ Mary Cavendish’s Life’s Adventure begins to tentatively express the relationship between two female characters, whereas such relations are expressed by male writers ‘are too simple,’ such as Cleopatra’s simple jealously towards Octavia in Anthony and Cleopatra. For fictitious woman are shown ‘almost without exception’ just in their relation to men, which narrator points out that that is but a small part of a women’s life. Men cannot give an interesting or truthful account about the other sex who are just ‘married against their will, kept in one room, and to one occupation. ’ Therefore the ‘only possible interpreter’ is love, forcing the dramatist to view woman in the lover’s extremes of passion or bitterness. This explains the antithetical nature of woman in fiction and the few parts they play. Nevertheless, women are by far the most popular topic among male writers, and in their daily lives they sought out female company. For only a woman, the narrator believes, can show ‘some different order and system of life, and the contrast between this world and his own. ’ The natural differences would ensure that the ‘dried ideas in him would be fertilized anew. ’ It is women that renew male creative power, and so ‘every Johnson has this Thrale, and holds her fast. A woman’s own creative power ‘differs greatly from the creative power of men,’ and these differences should be nurtured as woman have the ability to see what the man cannot; himself. The narrator describes a ‘spot the size of a shilling at the back of the head which one can never see for oneself, and thus ‘a true picture of man as a whole can never be painted until a woman has describes that spot. ’ Frankenstein’s monster, though an outcast, is self educated and intelligent. However the values of the outside world dictate that his body is monstrous and he can never be accepted; one feels perhaps the anger and segregation of patriarchy, the chip in Shelly’s shoulder. And yet he shows Frankenstein to himself in resembling the darkness of his creator. The monster is a subversion of nature, not only because of his reanimated corpses limbs but because he is the child of just one parent; a father. The difference of sex should be embraced within the creative process, as ‘a mind that is purely masculine cannot create, any more then a mind that is purely feminine. Not to think specially or separately of sex is to write with an androgynous mind which is truly clear. When the narrator reads a man’s work she finds it somewhat blocked, for in asserting his own superiority he is not only ‘inhibited and self conscious’ but writing with just the male side of his brain, with a mind ‘separated into different chambers. ’ Woman not only find such books dull in their perpetual emphasis on male values, but inaccessible. Thus the perfect state in which to create is in which some ‘marriage of opposites’ has been consummated. The narrator suggests that the men of Italy working to develop fiction in the Fascist era can only produce a ‘horrid little abortion,’ with an unnatural birth in a kind of ‘incubator. ’ One is again reminded of Frankenstein’s monster which, like Fascist’s poetry, will ‘never live long,’ for ‘poetry ought to have a mother as well as a father. ’ It is therefore ‘fatal’ for a writer think of their sex. Shelly herself creates a man who unnaturally gives birth;’ thus his creation is an ‘abortion, and for it he loses his humanity. She was clearly aware of the dangerous and alienating effects of creativity. Frankenstein looks at his creation as his inferior, stressing the monsters inhumanity in an attempt to bring back his own fading humanity. The monster, who show’s him for the thoughtless creator he is, becomes a terrible looking glass. Frankenstein sees the sleeping monster as beautiful in sleep, yet horrific in waking, an antithesis which mirrors the patriarchs. An outcast, a monster, is a woman with a gift, and thus her work is ‘disfigured and deformed. Whether Shelly’s monstrous progeny is an example of this or she reflects patriarchal attitudes in the segregation of the monster, she is nevertheless an example of one who does not ‘sacrifice’ a vision for others; she writes as she wishes to write. Woolf hopes that others will take this further and acknowledge that ‘our relation is to the world of reality and not to the world of men and woman. ’ But before there can be complete integrity and equality within literature, all writers must have ‘money, and a room of ones own. ’

Argument and Collaboration Essay Example

Argument and Collaboration Essay Example Argument and Collaboration Essay Argument and Collaboration Essay In the library there are many â€Å"evidence and arguments that collaboration pays dividends. Library impact research demonstrates that collaboration is essential in maximizing the positive impact of library media programs on student achievement and school success. Unfortunately, both the organizational structure and the culture in most schools discourage collaborative efforts among faculty members. Conference participants wishing to promote increased collaboration in their schools may need to draw on a variety of material to use in crafting their arguments. (Hartzell, 2007 p 2) â€Å"This sampling of resources is divided into three sections: (1) resources specific to teacher-librarian cooperation and collaboration, (2) resources relating to some deliberately targeted collaboration opportunities, and (3) resources regarding the general nature of workplace collaboration, especially in the school setting. † (Hartzell, 2007 p 2) Teacher-Librarian Collaboration Teacher-librarian collaboration is at the heart of effective library media practice. Research results indicate that students develop higher quality information literacy skills when instruction on those skills is integrated with subject matter studies, and an argument can be made that the learning of the subject matter itself is similarly enhanced. (Hartzell,2007 p3) Deliberately Targeted Collaboration One area of school librarianship often neglected in discussion of library functions is how the librarian can assist in helping particular populations in the school, both directly and through working with other faculty members. Hartzell, 2007 p 4) Collaboration General Resources Collaboration is difficult to achieve in schools. The culture resists it and the organizational structure discourages it. These sources offer some insight into the challenges of fostering teacher collaboration with anyone. (Hartzell, 2007 p6) Here is some example of argument and collaboration between library, school and principals: â€Å"Principals, teachers and librarians don’t always se e each other clearly. Perspectives: Librarian sees library media center as center of school. Teacher sees classroom as center of school Principal sees school as constellation of interacting elements. † (Hartzell, 2007 p9) Professional preparation Librarian: Little administrative perspective irony, because librarians reach every program Administer facility and budget Facilitate instruction with and through others Teacher: One adult in one room with one group of students for one period of time Administrator: No significant library study outside of law. Negative potential: censorship, copyright violation. (Hartzell, 2007 p9) Little or no interaction in the broader field How many teachers and administrators read librarian publications and attend librarian conferences? How many librarians write for teacher and administrator publications and present at teacher and administrator conferences? Result: Many teachers and administrators don’t think of librarians as integral to school success or to their own personal professional success. Opportunity loss: Inaccurate librarian evaluation, teacher forms, teaching function, revert to stereotype, low return on librarian investment, staff reductions, staffing by non-professionals, budget cuts or elimination. Hartzell, 2007 p 11) Why Should Principals Support School Libraries? Principals should support school libraries because it is in both their students’ and their own best interests to do so. Quality library media programs can enhance students achievement, committed librarians can help principals enhance their own administrative practice. (Hartzell, 2007 p14) How Can Principals Support Libraries? E ducate themselves to library and librarian potential. Reconfigure the librarian’s job to maximize realization of that potential. Hire high-quality, forward-looking, energetic, innovative librarians. Provide budget resources adequate to new roles and demands. Effectively and accurately evaluate both the program and the librarian on jointly developed criteria recognizing library media work as simultaneously integral to instructional quality but distinct from classroom teaching itself. (Harezell, 2007 p15) In the conclusion I would like to say that argument and collaboration explain importance of the open dialogue between libraries, schools and principals for the achievement of the best results in educational process, and administration functioning.

Biography of Alvaro Obregón Salido, Mexican President

Biography of Alvaro Obregà ³n Salido, Mexican President Alvaro Obregà ³n Salido (February 19, 1880–July 17, 1928) was a Mexican farmer, general, president, and one of the key players in the Mexican Revolution. He rose to power because of his military brilliance and because he was the last of the Revolutions â€Å"Big Four† still alive after 1923: Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Venustiano Carranza had all been assassinated. Many historians consider his election as president in 1920 to be the end point of the Revolution, although the violence continued afterward. Fast Facts: Alvaro Obregà ³n Salido Known For:  Farmer, general in the Mexican Revolution, president of MexicoAlso Known As:  Alvaro Obregà ³nBorn:  February 19, 1880 in Huatabampo, Sonora, MexicoParents: Francisco Obregà ³n and Cenobia SalidoDied:  July 17, 1928, just outside Mexico City, MexicoEducation: Elementary educationSpouse: Refugio Urrea, Marà ­a Claudia Tapia MonteverdeChildren: 6 Early Life Alvaro Obregà ³n was born in Huatabampo, Sonora, Mexico. His father Francisco Obregà ³n had lost much of the family wealth when he backed Emperor Maximilian over Benito Jurez during the  French Intervention in Mexico in the 1860s. Francisco died when Alvaro was an infant, so Alvaro was raised by his mother Cenobia Salido. The family had very little money but shared a supportive home life and most of Alvaros siblings became schoolteachers. Alvaro was a hard worker and had the reputation of being a local genius. Although he had to drop out of school, he taught himself many skills, including photography and carpentry. As a young man, he saved enough to buy a failing chickpea farm and turned it into a very profitable endeavor. Alvaro next invented a chickpea harvester, which he began to manufacture and sell to other farmers. Latecomer to the Revolution Unlike most of the other important figures of the Mexican Revolution, Obregà ³n did not oppose dictator Porfirio Dà ­az early on. Obregà ³n watched the early stages of the Revolution from the sidelines in Sonora and, once he had joined, Revolutionaries often accused him of being an opportunistic latecomer. By the time Obregà ³n became a Revolutionary, Dà ­az had been ousted, the Revolutions chief instigator Francisco I. Madero was president, and the Revolutionary warlords and factions were already beginning to turn on one another. The violence among the Revolutionary factions was to last more than 10 years, in what was to be a constant succession of temporary alliances and betrayals. Early Military Success Obregà ³n became involved in 1912, two years into the Revolution, on behalf of President Francisco I. Madero, who was fighting the army of Maderos former Revolutionary ally Pascual Orozco in the north. Obregà ³n recruited a force of some 300 soldiers and joined the command of General Agustà ­n Sangines. The general, impressed by the clever young Sonoran, quickly promoted him to colonel. Obregà ³n defeated a force of Orozquistas at the Battle of San Joaquà ­n under General Josà © Inà ©s Salazar. Shortly thereafter Orozco fled to the United States, leaving his forces in disarray. Obregà ³n returned to his chickpea farm. Obregà ³n Against Huerta When Madero was deposed and executed by Victoriano Huerta in February of 1913, Obregà ³n once again took up arms, this time against the new dictator and his federal forces. Obregà ³n offered his services to the government of the State of Sonora. Obregà ³n proved himself to be a very skilled general and his army captured towns from the federal forces all over Sonora. His ranks swelled with recruits and deserting federal soldiers and by the summer of 1913, Obregà ³n was the most important military figure in Sonora. Obregà ³n Joins With Carranza When Revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranzas battered army straggled into Sonora, Obregà ³n welcomed them. For this, First Chief Carranza made Obregà ³n supreme military commander of all Revolutionary forces in the northwest in September 1913. Obregà ³n didnt know what to make of Carranza, a long-bearded patriarch who had boldly appointed himself First Chief of the Revolution. Obregà ³n saw, however, that Carranza had skills and connections that he did not possess, and he decided to ally himself with â€Å"the bearded one.† This was a savvy move for both of them, as the Carranza-Obregà ³n alliance defeated first Huerta and then Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata before disintegrating in 1920. Obregà ³ns Skills and Ingenuity Obregà ³n was a skilled negotiator and diplomat. He was even able to recruit rebellious Yaqui Indians, assuring them that he would work to give them back their land. They became valuable troops for his army. He proved his military skill countless times, devastating Huertas forces wherever he found them. During the lull in the fighting in the winter of 1913–1914, Obregà ³n modernized his army, importing techniques from recent conflicts such as the Boer Wars. He was a pioneer in the use of trenches, barbed wire, and foxholes. In mid-1914, Obregà ³n purchased airplanes from the United States and used them to attack federal forces and gunboats. This was one of the first uses of airplanes for warfare and it was very effective, although somewhat impractical at the time. Victory Over Huertas Federal Army On June 23, Villas army annihilated Huertas federal army at the Battle of Zacatecas. Out of some 12,000 federal troops in Zacatecas that morning, only about 300 staggered into neighboring Aguascalientes over the next couple of days. Desperately wanting to beat competing Revolutionary Pancho Villa to Mexico City, Obregà ³n routed the federal troops at the Battle of Orendain and captured Guadalajara on July 8. Surrounded, Huerta resigned on July 15, and Obregà ³n beat Villa to the gates of Mexico City, which he took for Carranza on August 11. Obregà ³n Meets With Pancho Villa With Huerta gone, it was up to the victors to try and put Mexico back together. Obregà ³n visited Pancho Villa on two occasions in August and September 1914, but Villa caught the Sonoran scheming behind his back and held Obregà ³n for a few days, threatening to execute him. He eventually let Obregà ³n go, but the incident convinced Obregà ³n that Villa was a loose cannon who needed to be eliminated. Obregà ³n returned to Mexico City and renewed his alliance with Carranza. The Convention of Aguascalientes In October, the victorious authors of the Revolution against Huerta met at the Convention of Aguascalientes. There were 57 generals and 95  officers  in attendance. Villa, Carranza, and Emiliano Zapata sent representatives, but Obregà ³n came personally. The convention lasted about a month and was very chaotic. Carranzas representatives insisted on nothing less than absolute power for the bearded one and refused to budge. Zapatas people insisted that the convention accept the radical land reform of the Plan of Ayala. Villas delegation was comprised of men whose personal goals were often conflicting, and although they were willing to compromise for peace, they reported that Villa would never accept Carranza as president. Obregà ³n Wins and Carranza Loses Obregà ³n was the big winner at the convention. As the only one of the â€Å"big four† to show up, he had the chance to meet the officers of his rivals. Many of these officers were impressed by the clever, self-effacing Sonoran. These officers retained their positive image of him even when some of them fought him later. Some joined him immediately. The big loser was Carranza because the Convention eventually voted to remove him as First Chief of the Revolution. The convention elected Eulalio Gutià ©rrez as president, who told Carranza to resign. Carranza refused and Gutià ©rrez declared him a rebel. Gutià ©rrez placed Pancho Villa in charge of defeating him, a duty Villa was eager to perform. Obregà ³n had gone to the Convention truly hoping for a compromise acceptable to everyone and an end to the bloodshed. He was now forced to choose between Carranza and Villa. He chose  Carranza and took many of the convention delegates with him. Obregà ³n Against Villa Carranza shrewdly sent Obregà ³n after Villa. Obregà ³n was his best general and the only one capable of beating the powerful Villa. Moreover, Carranza cunningly knew that there was a possibility that Obregà ³n himself could fall in the battle, which would remove one of Carranzas more formidable rivals for power. In early 1915, Villas forces, divided up under different generals, dominated the north. In April, Obregà ³n, now commanding the best of the federal forces, moved to meet Villa, digging in outside the town of Celaya. The Battle of Celaya Villa took the bait and attacked Obregà ³n, who had dug trenches and placed machine guns. Villa responded with one of the old-fashioned cavalry charges which had won him so many battles early in the Revolution. Obregà ³ns modern machine guns, entrenched  soldiers,  and barbed wire halted Villas horsemen. The battle raged for two days before Villa was driven back. He attacked again a week later, and the results were even more devastating. In the end, Obregà ³n completely routed Villa at the Battle of Celaya. The Battles of Trinidad and Agua Prieta Giving chase, Obregà ³n caught up to Villa once again at Trinidad. The Battle of Trinidad lasted 38 days and claimed thousands of lives on both sides. One additional casualty was Obregà ³ns right arm, which was severed above the elbow by an artillery shell. Surgeons barely managed to save his life. Trinidad was another major victory for Obregà ³n. Villa, his army in tatters, retreated to Sonora, where forces loyal to Carranza defeated him at the battle of Agua Prieta. By the end of 1915, Villas once-proud Division of the North was in ruins. The soldiers  had scattered, the generals had retired or defected, and Villa himself had gone back into the mountains with only a few hundred men. Obregà ³n and Carranza With the threat of Villa all but gone, Obregà ³n assumed the post of minister of war in Carranzas cabinet. While he was outwardly loyal to Carranza, Obregà ³n was still very ambitious. As minister of war, he attempted to modernize the army and took part in defeating the same rebellious Yaqui Indians who had supported him earlier in the Revolution. In early 1917, the new constitution was ratified and Carranza was elected president. Obregà ³n retired once again to his  chickpea  ranch  but kept a close eye on events in Mexico City. He stayed out of Carranzas way, but with the understanding that Obregà ³n would be the next president of Mexico. Prosperity and a Return to Politics With the clever, hard-working Obregà ³n back in charge, his ranch and businesses flourished. Obregà ³n branched out into mining and an import-export business. He employed more than 1,500 workers and was well-liked and respected in Sonora and elsewhere. In June 1919, Obregà ³n announced that he would run for president in the 1920 elections. Carranza, who did not personally like nor trust Obregà ³n, immediately began working against him. Carranza claimed that he thought Mexico should have a civilian president, not a military one. He had in fact already picked his own successor, Ignacio Bonillas. Obregà ³n Against Carranza Carranza had made a huge mistake by reneging on his informal deal with Obregà ³n, who had kept his side of the bargain and stayed out of Carranzas way from 1917–1919. Obregà ³ns candidacy immediately drew support from important sectors of society. The military loved Obregà ³n, as did the middle class (whom he represented) and the poor (who had been betrayed by Carranza). He was also popular with intellectuals like Josà © Vasconcelos, who saw him as the one man with the clout and charisma to bring peace to Mexico. Carranza then made a second tactical error. He decided to fight the swelling tide of pro-Obregà ³n sentiment and stripped Obregà ³n of his military rank. The majority of people in Mexico saw this act as petty, ungrateful, and purely political. The situation got increasingly tense and reminded some observers of the pre-Revolution Mexico of 1910. An old,  stolid  politician was refusing to allow a fair election, challenged by a younger man with new ideas. Carranza decided that he could never beat Obregà ³n in an election and he ordered the army to attack. Obregà ³n quickly raised an army in Sonora even as other generals around the nation defected to his cause. The Revolution Ends Carranza, desperate to get to Veracruz where he could rally his support, departed Mexico City in a train loaded with gold, advisors, and sycophants. Quickly, forces loyal to Obregà ³n attacked the train, forcing the party to flee overland. Carranza and a handful of survivors of the so-called â€Å"Golden Train† accepted sanctuary in May 1920 at the town of Tlaxcalantongo from local warlord Rodolfo Herrera. Herrera betrayed Carranza, shooting and killing him and his closest advisers as they slept in a tent. Herrera, who had switched alliances to Obregà ³n, was put on trial but acquitted. With Carranza gone, Adolfo de la Huerta became provisional  president  and brokered a peace deal with the resurgent Villa. When the deal was formalized (over Obregà ³ns objections) the Mexican Revolution was officially over. Obregà ³n was easily elected president in September 1920. First Presidency Obregà ³n proved to be an able president. He continued making peace with those who had fought against him in the  Revolution  and instituted land and education reforms. He also cultivated ties with the United States and did much to restore Mexicos shattered economy, including rebuilding the oil industry. Obregà ³n still feared Villa, however, who was newly retired in the north. Villa was the one man who could still raise an army large enough to defeat Obregà ³ns federales. Obregà ³n  had him assassinated  in 1923. More Conflict The peace of the first part of Obregà ³ns presidency was shattered in 1923, however, when Adolfo de la Huerta decided to run for president in 1924. Obregà ³n favored Plutarco Elà ­as Calles. The two factions went to war, and Obregà ³n and Calles destroyed de la Huertas faction. They were beaten militarily and many officers and leaders were executed, including several important former friends and allies of Obregà ³n. De la Huerta was forced into exile. All opposition crushed, Calles easily won the presidency. Obregà ³n once more retired to his ranch. Second Presidency In 1927, Obregà ³n decided he wanted to be president once again. Congress cleared the way for him to do so legally and he began to campaign. Although the military still supported him, he had lost the support of the common man as well as the intellectuals, who saw him as a ruthless monster. The Catholic Church also opposed him, since Obregà ³n was violently anti-clerical. Obregà ³n would not be denied, however. His two opponents were General Arnulfo Gà ³mez and an old personal friend and brother-in-arms, Francisco Serrano. When they plotted to have him arrested, he ordered their capture and sent them both to the firing squad. The nations leaders were thoroughly intimidated by Obregà ³n; many  thought he  had gone mad. Death In July 1928, Obregà ³n was declared president for a four-year term. But his second presidency was to be very short indeed. On July 17, 1928, a Catholic fanatic named Josà © de Leà ³n Toral assassinated Obregà ³n just outside of Mexico City. Toral was executed a few days later. Legacy Obregà ³n may have arrived late to the Mexican Revolution, but by its end he had made his way to the top, becoming the most powerful man in Mexico. As a Revolutionary warlord, historians deem him to be neither the cruelest nor the most humane. He was, most agree, clearly the most clever and effective. Obregà ³n created lasting impacts on Mexican history with the important decisions he made while in the field. Had he sided with Villa instead of Carranza after the Convention of Aguascalientes, todays Mexico could well be quite different. Obregà ³ns presidency was remarkably split. He at first used the time to bring some much-needed peace and reform to Mexico. Then he himself shattered the same peace he had created with his tyrannical obsession to get his own successor elected and, finally, to return to power personally. His governing ability did not match his military skills. Mexico would not get the clear-headed leadership that it desperately needed until 10 years later, with the administration of President  Lzaro Crdenas. In Mexican lore, Obregà ³n is not beloved like Villa, idolized like Zapata, or despised like Huerta. Today, most Mexicans understand Obregà ³n as the man who came out on top after the Revolution simply because he outlasted the others. This assessment overlooks how much skill, cunning, and brutality he used to assure that he survived. The rise to power of this brilliant and charismatic general can be attributed to both his ruthlessness and his unmatched effectiveness. Sources Buchenau, Jà ¼rgen. The Last Caudillo: Alvaro Obregà ³n and the Mexican Revolution. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.McLynn,  Frank. Villa and Zapata: A History of the Mexican Revolution.  Carroll and Graf, 2000.