First Paragraph W/ Thesis Statement Paper # 3 (November)

         

First Paragraph 

 Everyday across the country, millions of young students wake up around sunrise and begin the tedious task of getting through their morning routine in order to get to class on time. Some of these students are early risers and take well to the task while others struggle just to get out of bed. Attention span is key in order to be able to digest the information overload that students from Kindergarten through High School face every day. Matthew Shulman from the U.S. News & World Report website, citing a study about the effects of REM sleep, wrote “Researchers at the University of Montreal report that a study of young children showed that those who slept significantly fewer hours than the recommended 10 were more hyperactive and impulsive than those who got plenty of shuteye and scored lower on two cognitive skills tests.” The study implies that students who sleep less will be more likely to act up in class and will give teachers a much more difficult task while teaching their students. Studies like this one and an abundance of others show a lack of sleep causes not only learning problems, but can also lead to serious health issues. 

Thesis Statement

A change to the school system from such an early morning rise to a 10 a.m. start, would dramatically improve learning capabilities of our children and would lead to a more productive and healthy population.

6 Quotes From Authors From Class That Support My Argument (11/26)

John Gatto from “Against School” online “Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time in a teachers' lounge can vouch for the low energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to be found there. When asked whythey feel bored, the teachers tend to blame the kids, as you might expect. Who wouldn't get bored teaching students who are rude and interested only in grades?”

Ken Robinson taken from his book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything  “Those students whose minds work differently—and we’re talking about many students here; perhaps even the majority of them—can feel alienated from the whole culture of education”

Mike Rose on his resolutions article ““to have more young people get an engaging and challenging education.”

John Gatto from “Against School” online “Mass schooling of a compulsory nature really got its teeth into the United States between 1905 and 1915, though it was conceived of much earlier and pushed for throughout most of the nineteenth century. The reason given for this enormous upheaval of family life and cultural traditions was, roughly speaking, threefold:

1) To make good people.

2) To make good citizens.

3) To make each person his or her personal best.”

bell hooks from the class selection in “Critical Thinking” Handout “Thinking is an action. For all aspiring intellectuals, thoughts are the laboratory where one goes to pose questions and find answers, and the place where visions of theory and praxis come together”.

bell hooks “Critical Thinking“  handout “When students are fully engaged, professors no longer assume the sole leadership role in the classroom”

The Authors That Agree With Me (11/26)

Over the quarter we have read many authors that I learned from. Some I agreed with and some not but I learned something from them all. The Authors that agree with me the most are John Gatto, Ken Robinson, Mike Rose, and Paolo Freire. I really like the ideas that Ken Robinson puts forth and listening to him is inspiring to say the least. He seems like an author I would really enjoy reading other works from and to learn more about his experiences that lead him to his great ideas. John Gatto I probably agree with the most as far as his opinions on the state of the school system and his views on the history of education related to the teaching methods and regulations that we have today. Mike Rose’s experiences are great to read and he gives vivid images of the experiences he had in school in his writings and really explains the teachers and their methods he had in great detail. Paolo Friere gives a great alternative to what he calls “the banking” method of teaching and explains the system and the proposed fix in a great detail. I had to re-read many sections of Paolo Friere’s “The Banking Method of Education” to get what he meant because his writing is so detailed but that is why I really enjoyed reading it.  

Most Important Lesson I Ever Learned (October?)

    I have had many lessons throughout my life I consider to be important. Some from learning by trial and error, some taught to me by someone or something else. One that stands out to me is that family is the most important part of life. Without my family I would be lost and I wouldn't be where I am or who I am without every one of them. When I was younger, I did not appreciate the people in my life as I do today. For instance, my brother and I were very competitive growing up and we used to fight emotionally as well as physically. Over the years we have become become best friends and I treasure our relationship.

  Family helps you when you are at your worst and they teach you to become the person you are. They love you no matter what you do and they guide you through your ups and downs. They give everything they have to help you and they work to build you up and let you know when you are wrong. Many people don't have the relationship that I have with my family, and many people have very strong relationships.

Thesis Statement & First Paragraph Paper # 2 (10/31)

Thesis Statement

Ms. Hamer and Mr. Collier were great teachers and had the ability to garner my attention and focus to the subject matter they taught, they did so in different ways.

First Paragraph

My first year of public school was the 7th grade as I had been homeschooled by my mom and grandma from kindergarten through 6th grade. Although I had many teachers that year, the one who made the transition from homeschool to public school a lot less stressful was Ms. Hamer. She was known to take her students outside to energize their bodies and minds by having the kids play sports that were modified to include English lessons. The ambiance for her classroom was very inviting but for a 12 year old kid, being outside was what we drooled over like hungry dogs when they hear the dog food bag shake.  “Tag you’re in!” a student would exclaim, which usually meant it was your turn to give an answer to a question followed by the absolute fulfillment of kicking a soccer ball as hard as you could toward a large weathered net.  I don’t quite know how it worked, but my brain was able to suck in information like a sponge whether I was kicking soccer balls or defending the flag of my team in an unrelated but equally entertaining Mr. Hamer sponsored activity. Ms. Hamer was very soft spoken although her ability to motivate had her students hanging on every word that she so calmly voiced. She was a relatively small person physically; maybe 5 ft even and weighed enough that a 12 year old could hoist her above their shoulders. Her size was misleading however as the content of her message and her ability to relate gained the respect of even the most dispassionate and cold-blooded mischief makers.

The Two Teachers I Chose to Write About for Paper # 2 (10/31)

For paper # 2, I chose to write about my 7^th grade English teacher, Ms. Hamer, and my 10^th Grade Astronomy teacher, Mr. Collier. I chose to write about these two teachers because they played a huge role in my life, not only with education, but also personally. Ms. Hamer was my first English teacher besides my mom because I was homeschooled by my mom until that point. She was a very outgoing and inspirational person and she made my life with public school a much easier transition and she helped me with some personal family issues. Mr. Collier helped me academically and personally as well but in a different way. He wasn’t as involved in my life outside of school but he inspired my love of astronomy and that love has been in my life for over ten years. I don’t think I’ll ever stop studying the stars and I credit him for that. His class was also a reason for me to want to go to school, especially as a teenager since I was definitely in the highlight of my teenage rebellion career. I wanted to go to school just to hear him speak about Astronomy and that kept me grounded in other classes as well. 

James A. Garfield High School vs Welton Academy (10/29)

James A. Garfield High School is a public school in a lower income area in East LA. The school is rampant in gang issues and drug problems and most of the students are not expected to achieve very much in life. It seems like they (students) are there only to comply with state law and learning anything takes a back burner. The conditions of the school don’t seem too bad given the area the school is located and the time of the film. Still not ideal though. Most of the student caucus is Hispanic. Welton Academy is a well off prep school with mostly Caucasian students. The school is well kept and the teachers are generally well educated professors. The difference mainly is the wealth difference between the schools students and faculty, as well as the location of the schools. Most of the students at James A. Garfield likely grew up in a lower class neighborhood and by the time they reach high school don’t have big aspirations. The students at Welton are more likely from more well off areas geographically and have wealthier parents. The reasoning for the testing group’s suspicion of cheating at James A. Garfield High School was most likely due to the area of the school the students and their race as rather than any real evidence.