Similarities

            Schools in the Bay Area and schools mentioned in the book have many similarities, except with the exclusion that the schools mentioned in the book have a far worse problem that accumulates to their School environment. Some Schools in the Bay Area have low graduation rates. Not only does this happen here in our area but in many other places around America. In Mississippi, a school by the name of East St. Louis is in high needs of a better School for their children. Due to its bad environment and the squeezing of numerous children in one classroom, not all students finish their education. Some may not make it to graduate from the lack of learning due to the lack of attention being paid to them, because not every teacher can get around to one hundred students in one day. Sometimes even students may drop out and miss on a graduation because they need to get a job in order to help support their families financially, and in the case of East St. Louis, that is what some students had to do.
            Our schools also suffer from not receiving funds. Funds which they deserve and need to get through a daily basis of teaching and learning.  There are Elementary teachers who cannot get the right tools and materials for their classes because of the lack of money and support that they receive from the government and the school board. Another problem is School size increasing. Classrooms can fit many students, however there is a limit when there is only one teacher taking on a big number of them. The most number of students in a class per teacher is, I think, around 30-40 students. It takes a lot of work and dedication with just the minimum, but with schools like East St. Louis that does not matter. Students are squished into classrooms to learn and teachers are stuck with them without a say, because they know they’re the student’s only hope to getting through an education under any circumstance. In this case, children living on this side of Mississippi cannot go anywhere else for school due to transportation issues or being financially unstable. That is why they stick to what they have and make do with it.
           The information that I found relates to my focus very well. My focus is on school resources. I feel that school resources are very important and sadly enough there are schools that don’t have enough funds or resources to provide the school materials needed on a day-to-day basis. The information I found elates to my paper focus in all and many ways. School resources are a big part of learning. They help you understand and learn things better by using them or seeing them. And example can be for kindergartners, how will they learn the colors without having crayons to test them out, the colors, and seeing what they really look like to visualize them.

Part 3

              This is our education and our country’s future depends on us. Our country’s unemployment rate will increase when students are not getting any careers from the lack of knowledge due to the lack of attention being paid to them from their teachers and their voices not being heard. These students are not getting the sufficient teachings in their life to be able to have a successful future.  They are confused and outcast in the way that they do not understand the material or they are not being understood themselves by their superiors in their education. Students may feel like they are not important and they feel left out, therefore their passion dies and they stop trying. Their pedestal: the school, teachers, etc., are no longer holding them up in their education. In fact, they are letting them down.

            The percentage of school dropouts will increase. What is there left in a student’s education when they’ve lost passion? At some point school staff and authority must realize that its not the students to blame for, but the teachers for their lack of attention and passion in a students voice. A student’s voice is like music to lyrics. They keep schools up and running. I mean that’s what it’s all about right? Student’s speak up and participate in debates and discussion and then teachers take that advice and weave it into a classroom’s environment, discussions, and lectures. Just like in Thoreau’s article called ON THE DUTY OF CIVIL DISOBEDIANCE, he mentions, “Action from principle, - the perception and performance of right, - changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary,” (11). A student’s voice helps improve a teacher’s practice. Teacher’s become more involved and students do too. It is the revolution of students’ voice fighting to be heard. The percentage of school dropouts wouldn’t increase so much if students were to have a moment dedicated to their voices being heard.           

              Teacher practice will not improve. If a teacher will not honor their students’ voice then why should their students listen to what their teacher has to say? When a teacher does not take the time to listen to the opinions and thought of a student, you can’t expect them to change or improve their teachings. In relation to the quote from Thoreau’s article, where he mentions, “The standing army is only an arm of the standing government,” (3). I take it as a student’s voice being the body of schools and the education that goes in it. It is very important for a student’s voice to be honored and taken as an important piece of the puzzle, especially for a teacher's sake, because without this feedback from students, teachers will not know how to help students make a better choice or have them participate more in class. Students will lose interest in school and teachers’ practice will not improve.

The TED talk

            I was very caught on this TED talk. It was so interesting that I kept rewinding a few parts to hear what Sir Ken Robinson had to say, because it really caught my ears. what struck me the most was how he pointed out the two different types of global warnings, one being natural resources and the other being a crisis of human resources. He said, "Humans make very poor use of their talents." I was very surprised to hear him speak of this issue going on around the world, not only that but it occurs mostly with minorities and the reason being education. our education now a days is like a routine, its not something that relates to a pleasure we have or something we enjoy doing, which is why we lose interest and many minorities go unknown of their talents. After watching this video and hearing him speak about having a passion for something, which is where it brings out your talents, I felt i could finally make my life decision of who I want to be. I have always had an immense love for animals. This past summer I went to a rodeo in Mexico and I got to ride a horse. Horses are my favorite animal aside from dogs, but what i love most is the feeling I get when i ride them. I had been riding this horse for about and hour when my whole family went to eat and they asked me if i wanted to eat, I was very hungry,  but I didn't want to get off the horse so I told them that I would eat later on. Eventually my cousin asked me if I wanted, I could eat on the horse and immediately I said yes. Soon enough what turned into 4 hours of riding seemed to me like 10 minutes. I have a big passion for animals and since the moment I realized it I became interested in being a veterinarian or a vet technician. Its something I have always put a lot of thought in, but I think I'm sure of what I want to be now. Thank you Sir Ken Robinson.

Reeling in Reasearch

            I feel that the article I chose and my focus on the “Writing Assignment: Rule of Three” relate in a very simple way. The name of the article I chose is calledGiving Students Voice As a Strategy For Improving Teacher Practice by Dianne L. Ferguson,  Amy Hanreddy, and Shawna Draxton. I am arguing the fact of a student’s voice not being heard in schools, which is very important because the students are the ones who create the schools and make it what it is to this day. It is an educational environment where teachers learn from students as students learn from teachers. The article explains how students are interviewed on their thoughts about participation in classrooms and how to create a conversation with their teachers that will then lead into more participation. “Students […] were asked to comment on their participation in their classroom and their perception of the classroom climate in order to begin a dialogue with their teachers that would lead to more participation in decision-making,” (1). I am sure the students interviewed for this study had a lot to say about a teachers work. Just the fact of even asking a student what they think shows that you care and it makes a student believe for change. It makes a student feel like they’re being heard. It also discusses how the teachers then take that feedback and incorporates it into their classrooms as well as their teaching practices to improve the classroom’s environment and help students participate more. I would like to think that this article represents a solution to my argument in the writing assignment we did in class. I value and believe that all students have something different to say as well as a student’s voice being important. Also that if we students are not being heard then we lose interest in learning. This article can very well explain how listening to a student and their thoughts on participation, can very well help improve the way a teacher works and how students learn from being heard. “They used the Information from their students to make changes in the classroom climate, in their own teaching practices, and in the content of what they were teaching,” (1). Clearly a students voice had an impact in a teacher and in general the whole classroom, because thanks to the students’ voice, a teacher can better the climate of a classroom to help mold the students in their education. I think its beautiful how a teacher takes the advice and puts it to use instead of ignoring it.

Ferguson, Dianne L., Amy Hanreddy, and Shawna Draxton. "Giving Students Voice As a Strategy For Improving Teacher Practice." London Review Of Education 9.1 (2011): 55-70. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Sept. 2013.