Psychological and Personal Growth Attained in Saint John’s Preparatory School

Far above the neighboring hilltops stands Saint John’s Preparatory school For me, this was more than just a school but rather was a place I once called home. SJP created an atmosphere that fostered growth, inspired creativity, and cultivated the unique talents of everyone in the school community, It may seem very weird to write about a school as my favorite place, especially since this particular school was all male, but this is the one place that changed my life, literally I know for a fact that if I did not go to SJPI would not be at this college or at any college for that matter. Unlike most schools, SJP is a school that values every student, and when one fails we all fail. This sense of community was what really pushed me to succeed. SJP is not the type of school that will just throw information at a student, but is instead a place that teaches one how to learn and how to apply that in every aspect of their lives.

It was SJP where I learned to inspire others to invest in a meaningful cause, to work as a team to accomplish a common goal and to develop trusting relationships and it is because of this school that I am where I am today. The campus itself is a vibrant blend of both old and new and is very peaceful no matter where one may venture. Each building has its own feel to it, With its trademark spire, Xavier hall, one of the main academic buildings of the school, has the traditional New England campus look, Multi-colored bricks stacked high and the copper spire that sits on top is seen for miles and these are the features that set this building apart. The average day for me was not burdensome but was exciting My days usually began running into Xavier, making sure to never step on the seal that was meticulously placed right in the center of the hallway.

Once at the top of the stairs, pictures of past classes flood the hallways, a timeline and pictorial history of the Prep history made it easy to get caught up in looking at each bullet point, each having new faces and their own stories to tell; but I continued on to class, usually I open the thick wooden door and walked through the tall doorway into the classroom. The rectangular room was very well organized, no clutter or papers scattered throughout which was comforting since I have OCD, self-diagnosed The classroom was very large and since there were only about 20 students in a class, it was very spacious, giving me enough room to sit back and relax Class begins, the high»tech smart board turns on and everyone frantically begins taking notes Unfortunately, the bulky windows made it very easy to close off, and I usually found myself staring at trees and dirt compost. At the end of three classes comes lunch, my favorite time of day.

On the path towards lunch nothing was going to stop me from getting hot, fresh curly fries Whether it was the high piled snow in the winter, the crunching leaves beneath my feet in the fall or the beads of sweat trickling down my chest in the summer, nothing was going to stall me on my quest to the cafeteria, With its histrionic gothic flair, the cafeteria can only be described as something one would see in a “Harry Potter” movie, This wide building features painted glass windows and arched ceilings; the best part however was the stunning mural of our mascot, an eagle that stares right into the soul of anyone who walks in. After scarfing down my spicy curly fries, I usually had my next set of classes in Benjamin l—lalL A newer building on campus, Ben Hall did not have the old rustic look of many other buildings but instead had heavy stainless steel doors and floors so shinny it looked like an ice rink.

Sleek, glossy and gleaming items are great but the best part of this Hall was the state of the art science labs, I spent a majority of my time in those labs, doing chemical experiments and blowing things up were the highlights of my days. Although all the buildings are magnificent and have a great communal feel to them, it was not the scenery that made me love SJP so much The school embraces the spiritual values of all catholic establishments At SJP, we had a new “motto” every yearr During my four years at the school, the values were compassion, humility, simplicity and trust, These are the values that all students were given the opportunity to live out. I personally tried my best to use these values in my life and because of this lam who I am today Now, don’t get me wrong all these things are great but it was still school, SJP had a rigorous academic curriculum and the teachers pushed every student to do their best.

In my course work at the Prep over four years, I displayed discipline and initiative which before SJP was very uncommon for me in any academic setting The sudden change was mostly due to the schools core values, and the fact that it stressed the importance of both academics and spiritual development, This of course means that SJP encourages students to develop their intellectual, moral and creative potential I am now proud to say attending 5]? was the best decision I’ve ever made I am truly proud in every way to have called SJP my home for the past four years and the place I will call my alma mater for the rest of my life I understand my opportunities and how blessed and fortunate I am to be in the position I am in today and it is all because of Saint John’s Prep.

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Corporate Partnerships

Hurley Corporate Partnerships Corporate partnerships allow schools to gain extra cash by advertising a product or service around the school, this allows the school to gain extra money and the company possible sales. The supporters of corporate partnerships argue that it is a necessity for cash stripped schools. However the other side argues that school environment should be ad free and uninfluenced by corporations. I believe that corporate partnerships are a necessary part of our schools and only hold benefits, up to a certain point.

Too much advertising could be distracting or even annoying for students, it should be up to the school to decide the perfect balance of education and ads. The advocates for corporate partnerships argue that; it provides schools with money that they possibly couldn’t have raised before. They argue that the money gained could be used on multiple things, from things such as buying new updated books, hiring new teachers or even to finance a new wing for the main building as In the case of Calcareous HAS. Monitored advertisements for a certain product possibly oldest have an effect on student focus or learning.

In Calcareous HAS we have ad banners on the bleachers near the football field. From my experience I haven’t seen any student second glance at them or even give them a second thought, but It does provide the school with much needed money for construction projects. Who knows If we would’ve been able to afford a new wing to replace the portables without that aid. The opposing side argues that corporate partnerships take away from the learning environment. They argue that schools should always provide an environment free room corporate Influence and ads.

What the backers of the opposing side don’t take into account Is that students are already Influenced by ads every day, from the clothes they wear to the food they eat. Students see ads on TV’s, radios, the Internet, the APS on their phone etc. Seeing ads In a school won’t affect the student dramatically enough to dissuade him or her from learning. The promoters for the opposing side argue that corporate Influence In critical places such as the library or classrooms could distract the student from learning and are too extreme.

I agree with this because classrooms and library are the place of learning, you should be able to read a book or write an essay without an advertisement for the new Nikkei shoes In your face. I believe that advertisements In learning areas would be annoying and are a violation of the students rights. This Is a heated topic that requires much thought and research. While advertisements In critical learning areas might be annoying and a hindrance to the average student. Overall It’s obvious that corporate partnerships are necessary and re a good source of side revenue for schools.

By exaggeratedly books, hiring new teachers or even to finance a new wing for the main building as in any student second glance at them or even give them a second thought, but it does provide the school with much needed money for construction projects. Who knows if from corporate influence and ads. What the backers of the opposing side don’t take into account is that students are already influenced by ads every day, from the clothes they wear to the food they eat. Students see ads on TV’s, radio’s, the internet, he APS on their phone etc.

Seeing ads in a school won’t affect the student opposing side argue that corporate influence in critical places such as the library or read a book or write an essay without an advertisement for the new Nikkei shoes in your face. I believe that advertisements in learning areas would be annoying and are This is a heated topic that requires much thought and research. While advertisements in critical learning areas might be annoying and a hindrance to the average student. Overall it’s obvious that corporate partnerships are necessary and

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Math Observations

Kindergarten Math Observations Mrs. Miller, Antelope Elementary, Kindergarten Observed: Wednesday (9:00am-10:30am) 3/27/13 Classroom rotation- children went from one room to the next for separate subjects, also each group of kids had been evaluated and put into advanced, moderate, and standard levels. This was also known as 3rd level, 2nd level, and 1st level kids. Advanced Group- 3rd level kids Classroom was set up into three separate group tables. Kids would move from work table to work table to complete different math activities.

Before starting their groups the teacher first went thru math skills they had learned the previous week (adding the dots on a two sided domino). Then the teacher went on to this week’s concept (adding objects). She then read a story about a girl and a boy that wanted to see how many magnets they had together. The girl had 3 black magnets and the boy had 2 hand magnets. She then had the children add up (count) the total amount of magnets on the board. She then asked what they thought the math problem would be. They repeated 3+2= 5.

She then asked if all students had understood why it was that and all answered with either the sign language symbol for I understand or yes. Group #1- Played a version of math bingo. Used math problems to find what number to put there chip on. The answer to that answer was where there chip was then placed. This game continued until all squares were filled. This group was assisted by Mrs. Joyce (a. k. a teacher’s assistant). When kids began to struggle with problems for example like: 3+4, the assistant slowed down the game and made sure each student recognized that 3+4 was 7 and then to place their chip on seven.

Group #2- This group was with the teacher. This group worked through a worksheet paper with their teacher. The first side of the worksheet was about counting coins. Mrs. Miller first asked them the name of the coin (ex. Nickel). The children answered nickel. She then asked what the value of the coin was (ex. Nickel= 5cents). The children answered 5. She then asked the children to count by fives for each coin. She then asked the children if the answer was 15 cents or $15. They answered 15 cents.

Example problem : (three nickels) 5…10…15 = 15 cents The second side of the work sheet was drawing what the story was saying as first a picture, or a visual, and then as an equation. Mrs. Miller first read the story. Then the students went thru drawing the picture with the teacher. Example problem: Tanya has 2 red balloons and 1 yellow balloon draw the picture. Mrs. Miller then asked the students what the problem would look like. The students answered 2+1= 3. She then made sure that each student understood and had the correct answer before proceeding to the next problem.

Example problem: Jamal has 3 blue squares and 2 green squares, draw the picture. Mrs. Miller then asked the students what the problem would look like. The students answered 3+2= 5. She then made sure once again that each student comprehended the problem and why it was 3+2= 5. After about 15-20 minutes the groups switched and rotated to the other table. At 10:30 the children lined up at the door and went back to their homerooms for snack. (end of observations) Summary/ Reactions – Mrs. Miller, Antelope Elementary, Kindergarten I enjoyed observing this classroom over all.

I really liked the way her classroom had been set up with not just desks in a row but the students were assigned tables and then they also had an assigned seat on the carpet. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of math the students were able to complete and comprehend. I considered in the back of my head what I had originally thought kindergarten was and remembered only learning my alphabet and finger painting. I really liked that the students had been assessed into different levels of comprehension and was glad to see that most of them succeeded more in the segregated math environments.

I also liked that their math time had been split into two subgroups. I noticed that this helped the students get a break from the monotony of doing the same math problems over and over by also allowing them to improve on some of their other math skills simultaneously. There were a few differences within each group level that I would like to consider also. First I would like to talk about my reactions to the level three students. My initial reaction to the students was that they were all very focused mildly behaved kids for kindergarteners.

The students had no problem and truly looked like they enjoyed playing the Math Bingo. I noticed Mrs. Joyce did not have to help them as much with adding the numbers together and seemed to compute the answers quite quickly. When the students were in the second group with Mrs. Miller they were asked more difficult questions such as the three factor problem (mentioned in observations). I was surprised to see that most of the students had no problem drawing and writing out the problem even though an additional factor had been added.

Then when they moved on to counting the coins I liked that majority of the students could recognize the coin, the value of the coin, and then by using its amount counting up to find how much money they had. Over all, this group definitely showed they were advanced. Next I would like to talk about my reactions to the level two students. My initial reaction to the students was that they were a little less focused but comprehension wise were still fairly up there. I liked that the group activity had changed for group number one from math bingo to a more practice oriented group. I did notice that Mrs.

Joyce had to help a few students in setting up their number in rows and would have liked to see her maybe show the students first how to put the numbers in rows. In Mrs. Miller’s group, or group number two, I noticed she didn’t really focus on the writing of the problems to match the stories. I noticed that the kids didn’t understand as much as the previous level why they got there answer as much as what their picture looked like. And then when the students went thru the coin side of the work sheet I thought that a few students answered more frequently first and then the other students would copy there answer.

Over all, this group was slightly less advanced but also above the average kindergartener. Finally I would like to talk about my reactions to the level one students. My initial reaction to the students was that they were definitely a lot more easily distracted by the set up of the room and each other. I did like that Mrs. Miller went through the numbers 1-30 on flashcards with this group and that when they began to struggle she slowed down and went thru them again before starting the groups. I will definitely consider this strategy in my classroom. I appreciated when Mrs.

Joyce took the time to show the students what their numbers should look like when in order by writing them on the board. This was a great reference and I noticed majority of the students used it as such. I noticed though with this group, more than the last group, Mrs. Joyce helped he students find each number instead of letting them find them on their own. I assumed that maybe she was just trying to save time. In group number one with Mrs. Miller I noticed the students would lose focus much easier and found coming up the answer much more difficult.

I especially noticed that at one point on the front of the work sheet students were mostly blurting out guesses not actual thoughts. I would have liked to have scene maybe a break at this time to go back and explain why the answers were what they were, but I understand at the same time that the groups were on a time schedule. On the back of the work sheet I noticed majority of the students struggled when asked what the coins were even though examples of the same coins had been placed on the board. I would have probably reminded them of the pictures on the board.

Over all, this group was definitely willing to learn, but lost focus the most often. In conclusion, observing this kindergarten class has really changed my outlook on what I used to think kindergarten was. I am now more willing to consider this grade level as a possible career. I saw a few things I would have maybe done differently, but over all my observations of Mrs. Miller’s kindergarten class were mostly positive and rewarding experience wise as well. Third Grade Math Observations Mrs. Shaffer, Metteer Elementary, Third Grade Observed: Thursday ( 10:00am- 11:00am) 3/28/13 Classroom setup:

The desks were set up in groups of two. Each group had been strategically placed there because of their willingness to volunteer or the lack there of. For instance a student that answered questions a lot would be placed with another student that didn’t volunteer so much so as to make that student more willing to raise their hand and participate in discussion. The classroom was covered in inspiring posters and excellent art work made from each student. There was also a wall dedicated to the highest scored English tests. There were a set of classroom Do’s and Don’ts on the wall.

Examples: Make good choices, Make the teacher happy, and Fallow direction quickly. Each rule had a hand signal. For example make good choices is taking your pointer finger and pointing to the side of your head. After the teacher went through each rule she then had each student teach it to their neighbor. There was a wall with small pouches on it with each students desk number on each and in each pouch was a green, yellow, and red card. When a student talked out of turn or was not fallowing directions the student was then instructed by the teacher to go “turn their card” or switch their card from green to yellow or from yellow to red.

On the board there was a tally system set for when the class as a group were not on task or not fallowing directions. If the students were too loud they got a tally mark on the frowny face side, and if they quieted down and got focused again they received a tally mark on the smiley side. At the end of the day the tally marks were added up and if they had more smileys then frownys they got extra recess that week. Math: The teacher began by going back over 8ths. She drew a square on the board and asked the class how many individual squares made a whole square.

The students replied by saying “16 squares”. She then cut the whole square in half and asked the students how many squares made up one half of the whole square. The students answered by saying “8 squares”. The teacher then cut one half the whole square in half and asked the students how many squares equaled one fourth of a whole square. The students answered by saying “4 squares”. The teacher then cut one fourth of the whole square in half and asked the students how many squares make up one eighth of the whole square. The students answered by saying “2 squares”.

Then the teacher asked how many eighths would fit in the whole square. The students replied by saying “8”. The students were then told to get out there small square eighth work sheets. The work sheets were about eight square grids on a piece of paper. On each grid the students were instructed to creatively shop up the grid into sections so that it had eight equal parts, or eight eighths. Then after they had finished their mini squares they were instructed to trade them with their neighbor and grade each other on if they completed the assignment correct as it had been assigned.

Then when their squares had been approved, they were then supposed to choose one square they thought looked the best and make draw that mini square pattern onto a bigger square grid. The teacher then made sure that each student understood that the squares needed to all be colored a different color so they would over lap and that they wrote one eighth on their pages as well. Summaries/Reactions – Mrs. Shaffer, Metteer Elementary, third grade. When I first arrived at the classroom, the students were already starting the day out to a rough start. Mrs.

Shaffer was apparently not content in the way they had walked to the classroom after recess and had the students walk all the way back to the line up on the play ground and walk back to the classroom again. Although the students slipped up a bit the first time when they had to actually go back and walk it again, I noticed a significant change in their attitudes and their level of focus. Once in the classroom, the students level of attentiveness went down again but it was mostly because they had a new distraction in the room, me. The teacher started going through the class rules and the hand signals with the students.

I noticed that they really enjoyed sharing with their neighbors what they knew and I feel like this simple activity helped them to better know their class mates and grow as group partners. Then the teacher began asking the students their fractions for eighths and writing the answers on the board. I noticed that not every student was completely paying attention or answering the questions as much as other students. I would have liked to have seen the teacher maybe redirect the focus of the whole class as she had done previously in the day, just to continue with consistency.

Then the teacher had the students break off into their groups and finish their mini grid papers. I noticed with some of the groups the students were really excited to show their neighbors their squares and had excellent creativity in their designs. The only thing that I noticed did happen with a few of the groups was that they started to act as though the appraisal of whose square was the best was more important than actually completing the assignment. But when the students reached too loud of a level of noise, the teacher put a tally on the board on the frowny side and the students refocused.

Then the students that were finished with the mini squares were then instructed to redraw their favorite design on the larger grid square that would be shown at their open house. I really liked that the students made it a point to make their fractions very personal and neat. I then made it a point for myself to ask each student why they chose the colors they did. Most students replied that the colors they chose were their favorite colors. One boy said that he chose the colors brown, green, grey, and black because it made his fraction look like camo print. All in all I had a really great experience while observing in Mrs.

Shaffer’s classroom. Her techniques and her instruction were very unique and different. I hope to visit and or observe her class again someday. Sixth Grade Math Observations Mr. Smith, Metteer Elementary, Sixth Grade. Observed: Tuesday (9:30am-10:30am) 3/26/13 Classroom setup: The classroom had its own computers, two wipe boards, and a job board. The Job Board included little pouches with each child’s name on them and included job such as Lunch Helpers, Paper Gatherer, Desk Straitener, Mad Minute Man, Computer Monitor, Clean up Foreman, and Phone Person. On the walls there were several posters.

The first one was a poster titled “How to write a good paper. ” It had four colored circles on it. There was one green forgo write your topic, one yellow for slow down and give reason, one red for stop and explain, and finally another green for go back and restate your topic. The next poster was a transition poster that had lots of helpful transitions sentences for the students to use as a reference. The next poster was an Editors Marks Poster. It had signs such as the paragraph sign, ¶. The student’s desks were all together in a hollow box shape with two desk partners in the center.

Math: That day Mr. Gappa was having the students build a mummy tomb out of Banana and Apple boxes. He first asked the students’ how they should start. They started by finding the area of the Banana Boxes (Banana: 10” ? 20” = 200 inches squared). Then he asked them what they should do next. They replied that they should find out how many boxes and fit in their tomb space. Mr. Gappa then measured each dimension of the corner of the room where the tomb would be placed. Wall one was 100in long and 110in tall. Wall two was 160in long and 110in tall.

He then asked the students what they noticed about the dimensions of the banana and apple boxes compared to the dimensions of the walls. They replied that the banana boxes and the apple boxes dimensions were factors of the wall dimensions. Then he asked what they should consider next. They replied that they didn’t know how many columns they still needed. Mr. Gappa told them that they would need two columns, but then asked how many boxes it would take to make the columns using the apple boxes (Apple: 20” tall). The students then started to write down all the data on the board. Then Mr.

Gappa went around the room making sure each student understood their data for the tomb building. For their final blue prints they were to use graph paper, making sure that there boxes were equal to at least two squares on the graph paper. Mr. Gappa then made it clear that he wants all the blue prints to be neat and colorful because they were going to be submitted to the Pharaoh contractor. For each wall the students then went about figuring out how many boxes they would need using the formula, area= length? width. When they had finished with their walls, they all gathered at the front of the classroom and went back over the data with Mr.

Gappa. Mr. Gappa then went around the room making sure that each student was using lots of color on their blue prints and were making sure they were very neat. He then mentioned a real life situational fact to the kids that they were going to be like little construction workers when they begin building the tomb. Summaries/Reactions First of all I would like to begin by saying how much I really liked the set up of the room. The kids were close enough together for quiet discussion during tasks but also when out of their seats had plenty of room to move throughout the classroom.

This class was also the quietest sixth grade class I’ve ever seen. Even Mr. Gappa spoke quietly when giving direction to make sure that each student had to listen very closely just to hear what he said, I almost didn’t even hear what he said. Next I would like to discuss the math. I really liked that Mr. Gappa had taken the time to create a math project for all the kids that used all the math skills they had learned during the year to help in the making of a mummy tomb which was also a part of their history lesson that week.

I liked that when going over the data Mr. Gappa didn’t just give the students the answers but made them figure them out on their own. This to me showed the true attentiveness and memorization skills that the students had obtained that year. The last thing I liked was the student teacher relationship that Mr. Gappa had with all his students. He was serious when he needed to and the students switched modes as well and truly respected him as an authority. Yet at other times he could laugh and joke with the students about how the music that he played was really old.

He also reminded me of the High School teacher Mr. Null in the sense that he called all the pretty girls fat and ugly, as to not let them get an ego in his class. All in all, I truly enjoyed observing this class. Their attentiveness to direction and the bond that they had with their teacher was to me very insightful. I will definitely consider using some of his teacher technics in my own classroom someday and hope to go back and observe his classroom someday as well.

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Why Secondary Kids Act in a Laddish Behaviour

Context and concepts Paul Willis conducted a study called “Learning to labour” in 1977 in which he studied 12 working-class students in their last 18 months at a school in the West-Midlands, the methods he used were observation and participant observation. The boys he studied were known as the “lads”. These boys knew what they needed to do in order to achieve and get qualifications but instead, they chose to reject school and developed laddish behaviour because they believed that education was unmasculine and uncool and that they would get a job even if they didn’t have any qualifications.

They thought that manual labour was more worthy than work at a desk or an office. This is where my first concept “laddism” stems from. This is a male script of toughness which is characterised by negative feelings towards school. Willis found that there were two types of pupils in the class, the “earoles” who commit themselves to their education and the lads who took little notice of school rules, teachers and work, instead they thought school was all about having a “laff”.

These are all coping strategies the boys had developed in order to cope and minimize the boredom of school and the future routine based jobs they would ultimately end up in. The boys thought that manual labour was more worthy than work at a desk or office. Mitsos and Brown also looked at why boys underachieve in education and thought it was mainly due to what teachers expected of them, which leads me to my second concept “teacher expectations”. They found that teachers tend to be less strict with boys, expecting low standards of work from them, leading them to underachieve as they failed to push them to achieve their full potential.

This also means that the boys started to become overconfident and also started to overestimate their abilities to do something and so making themselves believe that they don’t need to work as hard in order to gain qualifications. Boys were also more likely to be sent out of the classroom or get expelled (80% are boys) from school than girls, which means they lose valuable school time. Another reason for their underachieve could be due to the decline in manual labour, which has resulted in them losing their motivation as they see little point ion education as it wont lead them to the type of job they seek.

The lack of opportunities for these young men has given them a low self-esteem. It is these problems which have lead to an “identity crisis for men“. As there is a rise in the more “female” jobs and a decline in the more traditional “male” jobs, the future of some males look bleak as they lack a clear purpose. On the other hand according to Hargreaves et al the underachievement of boys in education may be due to the way the pupils are perceived by the teachers. Hargreaves at al analysed the processes that led to pupils being classified, and they put forward three stages which are:

  • Speculation- this is where the teachers make presumptions about the type of pupils they are dealing with, this leads to the formation of a hypothesis.
  • Elaboration- It is here that the established hypothesis is either gradually confirmed or rejected.
  • Stabilisation- when this stage is reached the teacher will feel like that they are familiar with the type of pupil they are dealing with.

It is this third stage of stabilisation, where the behaviour of the pupil is compared against the type of pupil they are thought to be.

If some pupils are regarded as being badly behaved, then it will be hard for their good behaviour to be seen, which is the “labelling theory”. Nevertheless it is the predictions made by the teacher that has lead to the “self-fulfilling prophecy”, where the pupils start to live up to the predictions that the teacher have made about them, which is my fourth concept. So if a teacher labels pupils as being bright and expects a higher standard of work from them then these pupils will start to believe they are indeed bright and as a result work hard and obtain good examination results.

Thus the actions of pupils are partly a refection of what teacher expect from them. Sociologists Rosenthal and Jacobson decided to carry out an experiment which lasted over a year, which was designed to test the “labelling” and “self-fulfilling prophecy” theories and how they affected educational achievement . They conducted their study in an elementary school were they selected 20% of the students, whom they expected to show rapid academic growth. In order to prove this they tested the IQ of the pupils before and one year after the experiment started and the selected pupils had gained IQ.

Rosenthal and Jacobson explained that this was due to the teacher conveying the message that the selected sample had more potential than the rest. This led to the sample believing that they were capable of achieving highly and live up to the label they were given and subsequently led to the self-fulfilling prophecy. Main research methods and reasons The main method of research that would be most suited to my topic is non-participant observation in a classroom. Paul Willis also used non-participant observation when he was conducting his research in order to see boys behave in a “laddish” way.

I will take up an iinterpretivist approach like Willis, where I will collect my qualitative data rather than quantitive data. This type of research method could help me explore the concepts of “teacher’s expectations”, as teachers can show different attitudes to the two opposite sexes which could lead to underachievement and form “laddish” behaviour. While observing I will be looking out for signs of “laddish” behaviour and levels of standards that are set by the teacher and if this affects the amount of work that is produced by the pupils.

For example teachers tend to be less strict with boys and they tolerate low standards of work from them, which leads to them overestimating their abilities and they become overconfident and not work hard enough in order to achieve highly, which links to my second concept of “teacher’s expectations” Before I operationalise my research method I will need to design an observational framework that meets the needs of my research and that corresponds to my contextual studies. It will also help me to be consistent in what I observe.

The things that I will need to look out for are: they way that the pupils are seated, the amount of times that the lesson has been stopped due to disturbance and if this was mostly from boys, and how the badly behaved pupils react to the good kids, do they bully them? Also I will be looking at the way that the boys contribute to the lessons, are they keen to learn? This will show that the boys are behaving in a “laddish” way, which operationalises my first concept. However before I officially observe the classes I will conduct a pilot study in which I will test the efficiency of my observational framework.

In this research I will be observing four English classes all in year 11. all four classes will be observed in the second period of the morning through the week, as pupils tend to be more focused in the morning on a Monday compare to a morning on a Friday. Before I can observe a class I will need to gain permission from the subject teacher. Then I will enter the classroom before the pupils get there and sit somewhere unobtrusive where hopefully students will not pay too much attention to me, which would also improve my data.

Whilst observing the class I might also come across situations where issues of confidentiality are raised. Potential problems Potential problems that could be met while conducting my research are that the behaviour of some pupils and teachers might change as the sense the presence of a stranger in the classroom. This could mean that I will not be obtaining accurate or valid data to show why boys are underachieving in education. The data obtained will be qualitative which means that I will not be able generalise the findings to the wider society, which means that my study will lack ecological validity.

Another problem could be getting the permission to observe these classes, the teacher might not be comfortable with the fact that I will be observing their class while they are teaching and so refuse me access, leaving me with no data. Also there might be timetabling issues, which means that I may not be able to observe the class I intended to, because my timetable might not let me, as I can also have lessons at that particular period of the day. While observing the class I will record my findings on an observational framework and as I am doing this I might miss some crucial events that have taken place while I was recording my data.

Due to this I might also end up being biased and focus only on certain events or even add my own interpretations to actions, which means that I will be selective as I am trying to prove a point. During the time I am in the classroom observing I may come across an event that has taken place in my presence which is serious and so automatically I am put in a position where I have to take a certain action which can be: do I report what has happened, or do I keep it to myself as the teacher has allowed into their classroom, do they expect me to be trustworthy? So issues of confidentiality may arise.

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Physical Education Is Important

DyEsha Robinson EDU 460 Motivational Paper September 23, 2009 Educators across the country are worried that kids aren’t getting enough physical fitness. Kids in elementary school may be getting a lot of their activity on the playground at recess instead of P. E. classes. Most grade schools don’t have P. E. teachers. Regular teachers can teach the kids physical education, but the state says many of them don’t feel equipped to do that. Statistics prove more kids are becoming inactive and overweight. Among youth six to 19 years old, 16-percent are overweight.

That’s more than 9-million kids across the country. To compound the problem, state officials say as schools strive to meet intense academic standards with programs like “No Child Left Behind”, schools are de-emphasizing P. E. P. E. encourages kids to find something active they love to do, like dancing, swimming, hiking, even skateboarding, because then they’re more likely to develop healthy habits. Put simply, at a time when every penny is being pinched by every school in every district in every county in every state, physical education is taking a beating.

The experts and educators say there is no doubt that the erosion of P. E. has been a major contributor to the skyrocketing obesity rates. And, of course, the more kids are unhealthy, the less they can exercise. This is their circle of life. Improving children’s health may not be a convincing rationale for school administrators. A big argument for cutting back on P. E. is that it wastes time that kids need to be spending in academics, and that it will reduce test scores, which is the death knell for schools.

But a studies show that spending more time in P. E. does not interfere with academic achievement. In fact, in some studies, including ours, there is some evidence that it might even improve academic achievement. Other studies have shown that P. E. boosts brainpower (attention, test-score fanatics) if it’s done right. That may be the key to fighting obesity as well—instead of just changing the amount of P. E. kids get, change the type. Learning to manage children’s behavior in the outdoor environment might help with classroom management inside.

Going outside and participating in a physical activity provides a break from the brain drain of sitting in the desk, so perhaps the teacher benefits as much as the students and everyone goes back in more refreshed and with a more positive attitude. The U. S. Department of Education contends in a newly released study that 99 percent of public elementary schools have some type of physical education built into their curriculum in 2005. But how often students actually engaged in physical activity varies widely. Between 17 and 22 percent of students attended P. E. each school day.

Another 11 to 14 percent scheduled P. E. three or four days a week and 22 percent scheduled P. E. one day a week. Exercise creates more alertness in a classroom situation. It stimulates more of the natural uppers in brain, like dopamine, and it improves working memory and problem solving skills. Sources http://www. cnn. com/2006/HEALTH/08/20/PE. NCLB/index. html http://www. newsweek. com/id/130621? digg=1 http://rwjf. org/pr/product. jsp? id=20811 http://help. senate. gov/Hearings/2004_10_05/destefano. http://sports. espn. go. com/espn/otl/news/story? id=4015831

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Challenges of Public education

America needs solutions Immediately because the gap represents Its future leaders of tomorrow. If thing Is done soon to correct the disturbing trend, the united States will be In danger of falling even further behind other developed countries. The many challenges are frightening: (1 ) too many high school students quit school before graduation, (2) too many high school students graduate without the ability to read or write well, (3) too many high school students are not prepared for the workforce, and (4) too many high school students are not prepared for college.

In this short essay, the writer will explain some of the consequences, causes and possible solutions for America’s educational dilemma. Consequences of the Problem First, if America’s public school leaders don’t devise a plan to improve the nation’s troubling schools, the consequences will be devastating. Normally, consequences can be traced back to the student’s level of education and usually comes to light when making choices or decisions.

Furthermore, certain characteristics come In play such as a lack of motivation, which may prevent someone from securing a Job because the person wasn’t motivated enough to take classes or gain the skills needed for a job. The lack of motivation is a problem in my hometown of Lenore, NC, located in Caldwell County. The county has seen substantial job losses lately because many workers were unqualified to enter into advanced manufacturing methods. As a result, many jobs have been shipped overseas resulting in high unemployment rates within the region.

Although the graduation rate in Caldwell County has been rising over the past decade, that wasn’t always the case decades ago. The county high school dropout rate was significantly higher approximately 20 years ago, well above the national average. One of the mall reasons was that many furniture factories didn’t require a gig school diploma for low-paying and unskilled labor. This statistic isn’t to say the workers weren’t Intelligent, only that they weren’t motivated enough to Improve themselves when educational opportunities were available.

As a result, most of the uneducated factory workers will face high unemployment rate for the rest of their life Probably the most important consequence of failing public schools is that students are not prepared for college upon high school graduation. My dad, a department chair and instructor at a local community college, tells me that a majority f students come to the college unprepared for college-level classes. Most students have to be placed in so-called developmental classes, which don’t count as college credit. Plus, the more developmental classes students have to take, the less likely it will be for them to graduate.

Therefore, many students drop out of college because they either can’t do the college-level work or determine that it will take them too long to graduate. Causes of the Problems Second, in order to address America’s public school crisis, it is first necessary to understand the underlining causes of the problem. For many students, the reason for poor academics can be traced to their own self-esteem. Thus, it is quite possible that the student wasn’t challenged enough in school or encouraged enough by the teacher or parent.

Without a doubt, a poor teacher has a tremendous impact on the academic achievement of a student. As an example, “how many times have you heard of students who credit their teacher for their success in life because the teacher believed in them? ” Likewise, a dysfunctional home life has a negative effect, as conditions around the home may not conducive to student learning. For instance, if a student can’t find a quiet place to read or study without distractions, then it makes it more difficult to learn the subject matter, usually resulting in a lower grade.

On the other hand, Sam Dillon of The New York Times concluded that the blame for America’s sagging academic achievement does not lie solely with public schools, but also with dysfunctional families and a culture that undervalues education. Schools are inheriting an over-entertained, distracted student (3). Moreover, first-generation students whose parents never attended college also face numerous obstacles making t more difficult for them to be successful in the classroom. It’s really sad that many parents don’t care about their child’s grades.

In doing so, it’s the students who suffer at no fault of their own. In addition, low academic standards are a major problem in public schools. Often, too many school systems have set the graduation bar so low that nearly everyone graduates from high school, whether the student is ready or not. Furthermore, many teachers assign students “busy-work” that’s not very challenging. This type of work does nothing to develop critical thinking skills. In laity, low academic standards Oust like student cheating) will only hurt the student in the long run.

This loss of knowledge is literally slipping through the student’s fingertips without them knowing the harm it causes. Thus, not only is the student harmed, the reputation of the school might be as well. No doubt the academic reputation of a school influences the parent’s decision on whether to move into or out of school districts. To the contrary, friends from private schools have told me their academic standards are much higher than public schools, and that their SAT scores are higher on the average too. Perhaps, the main cause of public school failure can be blamed on poverty.

Without a doubt, people living in poverty have more important things on their mind than making good grades in school. Parents may be more concerned about rent, groceries, car payments, and less concerned about their children’s education. My dad has always told me that there is a direct correlation generally have lower Gaps, while students from wealthier families tend to have higher Gaps. ” Unfortunately, this disturbing trend has plagued this country for decades, and it doesn’t appear to be getting any better. Solutions for Problems

Although the writer suspects that many possible solutions have already been tried to improve our failing public school systems, the state public schools systems may want to try the following innovative solutions: (1) provide students free college tuition for the first two years of college if the student maintains a certain high school GAP (say a B average) and is also able to maintain that same “B” average in college, and (2) base teacher’s bonus on a combination of evaluations done by the students, other teachers, and their own student scores on standardized test.

To begin, if the state loud add a motivator or incentive like free college tuition for the first two years of college for any student who maintains a “B” average in high school, it would greatly improve high school graduation rates. Not only that, more people would graduate with higher-level reading, math, and writing skills. Moreover, student debt levels would be much lower (at least 50%) if they attended a four-year college, or have no debt if they went to a two-year community college. It’s a win-win situation for the student and school.

Also, the state can base a teacher’s bonus pay on a combination of students, other cheer evaluations, and their own student scores on standardized test. Initially, students get to evaluate their own teachers. Next, teachers get to rate or evaluate other teachers teaching the same subjects (I. E. , English teachers rating English teachers), since they would probably know which teachers are most respected among their peers. Lastly, the other part of the teacher’s bonus could be based on student achievement on standardized test. Combining all three factors together helps determine the teacher bonus for that year.

By doing it this way, those superior searchers will be rewarded with higher bonuses, while the underperforming teachers will get little or no pay bonuses. Then, maybe the underperforming teachers will consider switching Jobs, as students deserve only the best. Likewise, since teachers are considered the backbone of the education systems, the school systems should do all they can to retain the good teachers. While the new pay standard for teacher’s bonuses might be difficult to pass (especially with teacher unions and lobbying organizations), the reward may outweigh the risk because outstanding teachers will produce better students.

Conclusion America’s public educational standards are low compared to other international educational systems. In short, America’s high school students Just aren’t prepared for college or even high-tech Jobs after entering the workplace after high school. At the very least, public schools need to set the educational bar higher in terms of reading, writing, and math skills. In addition, schools need to hold underperforming teachers accountable. As discussed above, many challenges and factors make it difficult for the school and student to succeed in the classroom.

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder of Alphorns

He seems to spend most of his time wondering around the classroom, and he has difficulty sitting down during circle time. Alphorns also seems genuinely sorry when he doesn’t follow the rules; however, he repeats the behavior again Just as if he never apologized or has not remembered doing something bad or misbehaving before. Alphorns has all of the appropriate age skills, as a matter of fact, his fine and gross motor skills are better than most children in his class. After Ms. Cross with Mrs.. Young permission had asked a school psychologist to observe

Alphorns and Interview his mom, school psychologist have come to find out that Alphorns can also be a difficult child at home, and he quickly losses interest In playing with his toys. He doesn’t play well with his other siblings, and he often gets mad at his baby sister when she cries. However, when Alphorns settles down his Is a very loving boy, he loves stuffed animals and he snuggles with his bear toy at night. However, Allophones aunt doesn’t invite him to her house anymore because she says that he gets so excited that he just runs through their home, jumps on the furniture, and scripts everything.

The main issue, in this case, is being able to recognize that Alphorns need to be tested to see if he does have an ADD to find ways to help him deal with is learning and social disability and to make him more successful with other children and adults academically and socially. The character feels that Alphorns is a “wild child” and they have very little control most of the time over his actions and they may be quite unpredictable. When Alphorns sees an opportunity for disruption, he ultimately takes control In acting out on his learning disability, which Is what rigged his actions.

He has difficulty concentrating and paying attention to various tasks and cannot stay on task for a long period of time. Also according to Ms. Cross’s observation, Alphorns does not stick with any activity for more than a minute or two. At the end of the observation of Alphorns, the school psychologist agrees with Ms. Cross and Mrs. Young that Alphorns is a challenging child who maybe ADD. The only solution that is being proposed is that something needs to be done soon to assist Alphorns in learning how to interact with children and adapt successfully to the classroom experience.

It is a shame that there was no definite plan proposed from the school psychologist when after she observed Alphorns. It would be nice to see a plan that would help the teacher and propose following accommodation sand modifications to help Alphorns succeed the classroom. It would be nice If Alphorns sat away from doors and windows, and also alternated seated activities with those that allow the child to move his body around the room. Therefore, whenever possible, a teacher should be able to incorporate physical movement into lessons as well as to areas.

Perhaps developing strategies for combating hyperactivity consist of creative ways to allow Alphorns to move in appropriate ways at appropriate times releasing energy to help him keep his body calmer during work time. Also, it would be important to be Try extremely brief when giving directions, allowing Alphorns to do one step and then come back to find out what he should do next. In this case, the disadvantage could be continuing on this work at home. His parents seem to be very busy and also have other children.

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