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Importance of engagement in the classroom
Importance of student engagement in the classroom
The Importance of Increasing Student Engagement in the Classroom
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The novel Don’t Care High was written by Gordan Korman. This novel, as well as other novels he wrote were based partly on his experiences in high school, where he says, “the only way to get through high school alive was by laughing”. This novel relates to teenagers about high school and how their high school is different. Korman wrote his first novel at age 12, This Can’t Be Happening at McDonald Hall. Korman graduated from New York University’s Dramatic Writing Program. He now lives in New York City with his wife and children.
This novel is based in various High Schools in New York City. One of the main characters Paul, just moved to New York from Saskatoon, Alberta. This novel takes place in the mid 1980’s. At this high school, Don Carey High, none of the students or teachers care about anything that goes on within the school. They have no team spirit at all, there are no teams or clubs because no one shows interest.
Shelton Pryor was Paul’s best friend; he was more outgoing than Paul. He didn’t care what the consequences of his actions would he just wanted to have fun. Shelton was upset because of the facts that nobody cared about the school. He had the idea that if they got a student to run for president things would change.Paul Abrams is a conniving teenager who causes trouble when he is around his best friend Sheldon. Since he was the new kid, he acted shy and quiet until he made some friends.
Paul met a teen named Sheldon, he was Paul’s first friend in New York and they shared similar interests. When he arrived at Don Carey High he felt weird because it was a dump and know cares about what happened to it. Paul knew right from wrong but Sheldon did not, so Paul got in trouble when he was around Sheldon. Paul’s nickname was “ambition” because he was the only one with ambition in his life.
Mike Otis is a main character that is certainly not popular at Don Carey High. He is an unusual person who is shy and he keeps to himself. He always wears a big raincoat and safety pins in his jeans. Mike is a dweeb who minds his own business. Mike was also a paranoid person. For example, he gave the wrong address and phone number to the school so if something happened they could not contact him.
Throughout Mike’s life, he had the fortunate experience of having some inspirational mentors. I have identified four of his numerous mentors as the most critical to his development, both educationally and personally. Achieving Abnormality The first of Mike’s mentors I would like to discuss came into his life just after his father passed away, beginning his senior year. His name was Jack MacFarland.
Paul’s character relates to the central idea because he is an example of a person who was not accepted by others and fell down on a dark path of no
Botstein begins his essay by listing examples to assert that the American high school is obsolete. He describes high school as if to someone who knows nothing about it, so as to better expose the failings of the institution. Current or former high-schoolers remember the team sport culture, but might not realize its harm without Botstein’s detached and somewhat analytical description.
High school. It’s tough. Especially if you’re a freshman. Everything changes when you get to high school. You start to notice specific people more, your friends start to change, and even your likes and dislikes change. These may just sound like the typical high school cliche sayings, but in the novel Sleeping Freshman Never Lie, written by David Lubar, Scott Hudson had to go through all of that in just his first year of high school. Throughout the novel, Scott Hudson encounters many changes in his freshman year of high school including, the arrival of a new baby sibling, friends coming and leaving, being on student council, writing for the school’s newspaper, working on the school’s play, all while he is chasing the “girl of his dreams”. The
The purpose of Rebecca Solnit’s “Abolish High School” is to criticize the present high school system along with the emotional and academic strain it puts on developing minds. Solnit’s intended audience is any educated person with the opportunity to voice their opinions on the current approach to schooling.
What makes a character real? Schooled is a novel written by Gordon Korman. The novel’s protagonist and is Capricorn Anderson, a 13-year-old hippie who lives on a farm commune with his grandmother. Capricorn, however, has to live with another family and attend a public school when his grandmother breaks her hip and has to stay at the hospital for weeks. This paper discusses true-to-self Capricorn Anderson, his path, and purpose in the text, his interactions and effect on others, and his change over time.
...s feeling of achievement at completing school is shown. There are close ups of the Tuohy’s with Ms Sue and Sam showing feelings of attachment with Michael. Moreover, the mid-shots of the teacher’s face highlights that he is accepted in the school community too. As such, Michael, like Billy has achieved a new sense of belonging due to connections with new people and places.
These days, as both characters ironically prove, it is difficult trying to be different when being different is a category in itself. Dave and Julia, the two protagonists of this book, are both the cool, “hipster” type kids that would burn themselves drinking their coffee because they have to do it before it is cool. Both of them think high school is the biggest cliché imaginable, which – when you think about it- it really is. How many of us fantasized over being prom king or queen? Having someone ask you out to a dance in the most romantic, over used fashion possible? Wanted to run for class president or some other office? These are the sort of things that Dave and Julia vow never to do during their four years of high school, until one day everything changes. As the summary explains, Dave and Julia start a pact (which they write down and title the "Nevers List") right before high school, swearing off participating in any of the "cliché" high school experiences that were just bound to arise. The list goes as
Paul is the only white character, in the novel, that truly understands the struggle of being black in the south. We first met Paul in the Bayonne jail, when he is escorting Grant to Jefferson jail cell. After Grant continuously visits Jefferson, he and Paul became closer. In Ed Piacentino paper he notice grant and Paul were becoming more acquainted with each other. Piacentino saw the white community 's segregationist and their oppressive attitude, being an individual basis and not overall. He made an interesting comment about Paul in his paper “Paul 's eyes serve as a window to the essential goodness of his character” (Piacentino 5). By the end of the novel Paul see Jefferson as a human being when he notices the remarkable transformation that Jefferson went through. Paul knowing that Jefferson will be executed soon he treats him with kindness wanting to leave Jefferson with good memories of
Paul believes that everyone around him is beneath him. He is convinced that he is superior to everyone else in his school and in his neighborhood. He is even condescending to his teachers, and shows an appalling amount of contempt for them, of which they are very aware.
Pauls past relationship with his dad has been rough because of his dad leaving shawn. Paul feels as though his dad left the family so he didn't have to worry about shawn and their family problems. During the time his dad was gone paul has been angry that shawn hasn't been getting the fatherly support he needs to feel normal. “My dad couldn't stay with us and help us take care of my brother--no, he left me to handle all that so he could jet around and make a bunch of money whining about his tragic plight”(4). Paul realizes that if his dad really cared about their family situation he wouldn't have left the family in the position he was in.
Paul has an addiction to alcohol that has greatly devastated his life, but he also has a problem with gambling. Paul’s gambling started shortly after his alcoholism and his problems are all related. This is demonstrated when Norman states “… tell my mother and father that my brother had been beaten by the butt of a revolver and his body dumped in an alley” (Maclean 102). His addiction caused a cycle of problems, starting with his alcohol addiction, which led to gambling and from there stemmed money problems. Ultimately his alcoholism left him dead in an alley with his family wondering how it all happened, because he was not connected to them. His life was literally destroyed because of a few thoughtless decisions he made while intoxicated. All of his life problems and experiences are connected by one thing: his need to get a short rush of happiness from alcohol. His past decisions all added up and ended up killing him, and if he would have made wiser decisions in the past he might be still
his life in a major way. Mike’s biology teacher encouraged him to the best at everything and to
He begins to realize how he should not be afraid of everything all the time, and how he needs to start making his voice heard. Paul starts to accomplish this by helping students out of the broken classroom when the sinkhole forms in Lake Windsor Middle School. But, he still doubts himself. “I’m not saying I was a hero. All I did was slide around in mud and tried to pull people out. But I didn’t panic and run either.” This quote shows that Paul still doubts himself, but he knows that what he did was a good thing. As the story continues, Paul learns how he lost his vision. He now knows it wasn’t his fault, but his brothers. This realization was crucial for Paul to begin to gain confidence, and learn not to be so hard on
Since its publication in 1951, The Catcher In the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger has served as a conflagration for debate and extreme controversy. Although the novel has been the target of scornful criticism, it has also been the topic of wide discussion. The novel portrays the life of sixteen year old, Holden Caufield. Currently in psychiatric care, Holden recalls what happened to him last Christmas. At the beginning of his story, Holden is a student at Pencey Prep School. Having been expelled for failing four out of his five classes, Holden leaves school and spends 72-hours in New York City before returning home. There, Holden encounters new ideas, people, and experiences. Holden's psychological battle within himself serves as the tool that uncovers the coming-of-age novel's underlying themes of teen angst, depression, and the disingenuous nature of society. The novel tackles issues of blatant profanity, teenage sex, and other erratic behavior. Such issues have supplemented the controversial nature of the book and in turn, have sparked the question of whether or not this book should be banned. The novel, The Catcher In the Rye, should not be banned from inclusion in the literature courses taught at the high school level.