The 2nd book within George Wood's manuscript, "Time to Learn", addresses the idea of change within the school system. "Transforming the High School" is broken into chapters that regard how to positively change the normal, structed school environment. Wood gives examples and illustrates the need and the process of change by; how to truly interact and connect with students, on how to teach important things successfully, and enforces the need for a democratic system within the school.
Like the first book, Wood uses many students to serve as an example of situations within the school, but also to bring a connection into his story. In the Introduction, we are introduced to a new student in Hocking High School. The student came from a very rough school and was unfamiliar with a positive school environment such as FHHS. The title, "Reaching Every Student", does just that with the new student, Leroy. The school reaches out to Leroy, discovers how he is finding trouble adjusting and corrects with problem by talking with his grandparents. The story sets a perfect theme going into the next chapter discussing how to know the students.
In Chapter 3, Wood starts right in with addressing the problem with school size. The schools are just too big. With the example of the student, Charity, Wood demonstrates that when a student becomes anonyms, they feel less connected to the school; therefore, students dismiss the importance of high school. I know that if I felt I didn't belong in a certain place or situation, my interest and involvement would, without a doubt, be diminished. Wood also gives the examples of a boy who was very smart, but simply uninterested in the work. When his lack of accomplishment was discovered, and upon investigation of his study habits and interest, he was very active in education, just not engaged. It was not the school work; it was his lack of connection with teachers and the material of the class. Wood then goes into the five strategies on how to make a connection with the student to the teacher / school.
1- Reduce overall size of school
With this method, Wood believes, that no student will be anonyms. They will all develop a larger sense of involvement. Students will get more face-to-face contact with the teachers too. He also develops a system of small, focus groups where students are split into fields in which they are more interested.
The book, Deaf Again, written by Mark Drolsbaugh, is an autobiography telling his life story which starts with a young boy growing up who goes through the process of losing his hearing and then, as he gets older, he struggles with trying to fit in as a normal child. When Mark was very young, he could hear fairly well then gradually he went hard of hearing until he eventually went completely deaf. Even though he had two deaf parents, the doctors advised speech therapy and hearing aids because they did not understand Deaf Culture and they thought that Mark would be a lot happier if he could hang on to his hearing persona. Throughout the rest of the book, Mark goes through a lot of stages of trying to fit in with everyone and eventually does find himself and realizes that being Deaf is not a disease, but just a part of who he is.
In "Our Secret" by Susan Griffin, the essay uses fragments throughout the essay to symbolize all the topics and people that are involved. The fragments in the essay tie together insides and outsides, human nature, everything affected by past, secrets, cause and effect, and development with the content. These subjects and the fragments are also similar with her life stories and her interviewees that all go together. The author also uses her own memories mixed in with what she heard from the interviewees. Her recollection of her memory is not fully told, but with missing parts and added feelings. Her interviewee's words are told to her and brought to the paper with added information. She tells throughout the book about these recollections.
"My Children are black. They don't look like your children. They know that they are black, and we want it recognized. It's a positive difference, an interesting difference, and a comfortable natural difference. At least it could be so, if you teachers learned to value difference more. What you value, you talk about.'" p.12
Perhaps no other event in modern history has left us so perplexed and dumbfounded than the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, an entire population was simply robbed of their existence. In “Our Secret,” Susan Griffin tries to explain what could possibly lead an individual to execute such inhumane acts to a large group of people. She delves into Heinrich Himmler’s life and investigates all the events leading up to him joining the Nazi party. In“Panopticism,” Michel Foucault argues that modern society has been shaped by disciplinary mechanisms deriving from the plague as well as Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a structure with a tower in the middle meant for surveillance. Susan Griffin tries to explain what happened in Germany through Himmler’s childhood while Foucault better explains these events by describing how society as a whole operates.
Chapter tells stories of kids that dream big but their everyday lives show that there smaller than their own dreams. Children in the poorer areas in America are usually always dreaming about being rich to have what the other side because of their situation they believe that’s what’s going to bring happiness to their lives. Alas, the way they go about it is all wrong or their heart is in the right place but don’t put enough effort in school and give up thus giving up on themselves. In poorer neighborhoods where survival comes first many kids put school second, third, or don’t even concern themselves with it. In the book one school of students had dreams of having all different kinds of occupations, some wanted be lawyers others models and be in sports. The teacher there would instead make them see the real world where if you can’t read or write and have good math skills how could you become any of those things. Students there would barely come to class, never do homework, and even would misbehave for a little attention and at some point even teachers would give up on their students thinking there is no hope for them. In fact, communities don’t have to be like this if there was more unity involved with the community instead of blaming each other then they could all reach a common ground and work together to make a better
Students encounter many complications during their school career. Some students are smart, but just don’t apply themselves, or have similar hardships that are going on in their lives. These can be fixed if one can find motivation and confidence. In the story “Zero,” Paul Logan coasts through high school and college. Logan doesn’t know the tools to succeed in school, which causes his grades to fall. In the story “The Jacket,” Gary Soto explains how the way one dresses can influences how they feel about themself. Which in this case he gets an ugly jacket; which causes him to be depressed and his grades to fall. Albeit Logan and Soto went through similar hardships, they both succeed with motivation and confidence.
In the short story, "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother and daughter are at odds with each other. The mother pushes her daughter to become a prodigy, while the daughter (like most children with immigrant parents) seeks to find herself in a world that demands her Americanization. This is the theme of the story, conflicting values. In a society that values individuality, the daughter sought to be an individual, while her mother demanded she do what was suggested. This is a conflict within itself. The daughter must deal with an internal and external conflict. Internally, she struggles to find herself. Externally, she struggles with the burden of failing to meet her mother’s expectations. Being a first-generation Asian American, I have faced the same issues that the daughter has been through in the story.
“School can be a tremendously disorienting place… You’ll also be thrown in with all kind of kids from all kind of backgrounds, and that can be unsettling… You’ll see a handful of students far excel you in courses that sound exotic and that are only in the curriculum of the elite: French, physics, trigonometry. And all this is happening while you’re trying to shape an identity; your body is changing, and your emotions are running wild.” (Rose 28)
The repetitive structure of a school day, in a way, provides me with a sense of security, an awareness of what to expect, but it can be monotonous and lack excitement. When you consider how much time students spend in school it is clear that the experience shapes their lives and can have a lasting effect. It is for this reason that it is crucial to have the correct balance of conformity and individuality for the benefit of both civilization and individuals.
Over the course of the 21st century, there has been a steady decline in the rate of high school graduates. With such an important factor to the success of adolescents, school administrations have begun to take notice of such unacceptable findings. In this process they have attempted to understand the needs of our youth and the methods that give them the opportunity to become better readers, writers and overall students. To these young individuals, these years of development are pivotal to there success as adults. Educators must work together with the student to understand their individual forms of learning, not every student is the same and must be given the opportunity to learn no matter what the circumstance might be.
In the essay “Everything Now” Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, author Steve McKevitt blames our unhappiness on having everything we need and want, given to us now. While his writing is compelling, he changes his main point as his conclusion doesn’t match his introduction. He uses “want versus need” (145) as a main point, but doesn’t agree what needs or wants are, and uses a psychological theory that is criticized for being simplistic and incomplete. McKevitt’s use of humor later in the essay doesn’t fit with the subject of the article and comes across almost satirical. Ultimately, this essay is ineffective because the author’s main point is inconsistent and poorly conveyed.
Those one hundred and twenty kids that began the education process as strangers not only excel in learning together, they become friends, some lovers, others bitter rivals, but they all grow up together. They experience hardships, deaths of friends and loved ones,
The novel, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other (2011) written by Sherry Turkle, presents many controversial views, and demonstrating numerous examples of how technology is replacing complex pieces and relationships in our life. The book is slightly divided into two parts with the first focused on social robots and their relationships with people. The second half is much different, focusing on the online world and it’s presence in society. Overall, Turkle makes many personally agreeable and disagreeable points in the book that bring it together as a whole.
Who is the birthday party a rite of passage for, the birthday boy or his mother?
While Gardner’s “Human Intelligence Isnt’t What We Think It Is” and Shatzaman’s “When Learning Hurts” are both well written and make some very valid points, each time I read them I find myself agreeing more and more with points that Gardner makes. More than anything, the reason why Gardner’s points are much easier to agree with is because I can relate to them on a personal level. As Gardner puts it, ones intelligence can’t solely be measured through test scores. During my academic career, I haven’t always been the student to receive the highest GPA or test scores, but I have the “two forms of personal intelligence”(810) that have allowed me, and will allow me, to be very successful in life. Gardener even himself states, “… in the near feature