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Assignment 6: Essential Principles Evaluation
By
Joeetta Eutsey-Walker TSOL 562
Cultural and Cross-Cultural Studies
Nova South-eastern University
March 5, 2017
Demographics
Honey Lake Middle School is a large middle school. The student to teacher ratio of 13:1 is significantly lower than the average for middle schools in Georgia (15.8). Students may enroll in 6th - 8th grade. 799 students, or 83.1% of the student population at Honey Lake Middle School identify as African-American, making up the largest segment of the student body. A typical school in Fairburn is made up of 85.3% African-American students, so Honey Lake Middle School has a very similar ethnic distribution compared to other schools in the city.
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This school districts have cut back on their funding for drama clubs and family and consumer science programs and either reduced the number of afterschool sports offered or put a hefty price tag on participation. The end result is that an increasing number of low-income students find themselves left on the sidelines. High minority and low-income students’ population in this school system have become increasingly disengaged and disconnected, their participation rates are …show more content…
Every Monday and Friday for 30-45 minutes the entire student body participate in a lesson from The Boys Town Education Model Building positive relationships. At its foundation, the BTEM is about building healthy, positive relationships between students and one another, as well as between students and staff. The goal of the BTEM is to create a healthy school environment through effective classroom management techniques, relationship building, and social skills instruction. The Boys Town Education model can also be divided into four topical components: building positive relationships, teaching social skills, reinforcing social skills, and responding to problem behavior. Similar to Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, the BTEM is based on research in applied behavior analysis and social learning theory (Hensley et al.,
Nelsen, J., Lott, L., & Glenn, S. (2000). Positive discipline in the classroom developing mutual respect, cooperation, and responsibility in your classrooms, 3rd ed. (p. 120). Roseville, Califonia: Prima Publishing.
“When schools, parents, families, and communities work together to support learning, students tend to earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, stay in school longer, and enroll in higher level programs.” (Van Roeckel, 2008, p. 1) Deer Valley High School in Glendale, AZ is the first high school built in the Deer Valley Unified Scholl District, and with a population around 1800 students, the high school is one of the bigger schools in the state. It has a tradition of family on its’ campus, where there are still teachers teaching that were there when the school opened in 1980. A number of former students have become new teachers on campus and just about all the teachers’ children have attended and graduated from the campus. With a school like ours, there are many connections to the community around it and it is demonstrated by the programs that bring in parent and community to help with the development of our students. There are numerous booster clubs run on our campus to help support student achievement on the sports fields, a school to work programs to teach the students necessary skills in different areas of either nursing, sports medicine classes, and in the culinary arts classrooms, and funding to our school to help ensure all students graduate on time. There are many programs on our campus, but I will discuss four of the programs: baseball booster club, C2G program, “school-to-work”, and the special education program sponsored by Arrowhead Hospital. These programs are designed to improve the relationships between the campus and the people in the community, and give all students on campus every opportunity to succeed in their future.
Within a community is a sense of unity, which for many is brought together by the young athletes of the community. In his article “High School Sports Have Turned Into Big Business,” Mark Koba of CNBC highlights that within the last thirty to forty years high school football has escalated into a highly revered tradition in which not only communities, but highly successful corporations have begun to dedicate millions of dollars towards (Koba n. pg.). This highlights the status of sports within the community and may explain part of the reason schools would favor sports over other programs. Because sports programs can often turn over big profits for schools, they tend to dedicate most of their excess funds towards sports, and rely on sports programs to create large profits for the school. When school administrators see how much sports unite, excite, and benefit the school, they develop a respect for sports and consider it a necessity to provide a good sports program for their students and community. Also in his article, Koba quotes an interviewee named Mark Conrad who is the associate professor of legal and ethical studies at Fordham University 's school of...
I began by tutoring at the Boys and Girls Club (BGC) and eventually became a teacher at the boys and girls club. The focus of my continued volunteer work was to enrich the children’s after school experience whether they needed help with homework or busy work. During my volunteer work the issue that stuck out in my mid continuously was social class or classism. The BGC emphasizes many different issues and points such as “creating aspirations for the future,” “Helping youth become responsible, caring citizens and acquire skills for participating in the democratic process is the main thrust of these programs and also to develop leadership skills and provide opportunities for planning, decision-making.” BGC encourages kids to engage in healthy and positive behavior as well as to help the youth build and discover creativity in the arts “Club programs help develop fitness, a positive use of leisure time, reduction of stress, appreciation for the environment and social and interpersonal skills.” (bgca.org)
Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s problems. Most importantly, money cannot influence student, parent, teacher, and administrator perceptions of class and race. Nor can money improve test scores and make education relevant and practical in the lives of minority students. School funding is systemically unequal, partially because the majority of school funding comes from the school district’s local property taxes, positioning the poorest communities at the bottom rung of the education playing field. A student’s socioeconomic status often defines her success in a classroom for a number of reasons.
...reflect the learning outcomes related to my personal and professional life. It showed that social and emotional aspects are influenced by our interaction with family and environment. Children need a secure and safe attachment during early years to avoid social barriers later in life. As children are growing they spend more time in school therefore an appropriate and enjoyable environment is necessary. When faced with classroom management and behaviors teachers should encourage and help children when needed. There are numerous techniques and skill to help teachers manage challenging behaviors. Counselling approaches are useful in order to have a better understanding of why a child behaves in a certain manner, teacher can use it to help children and their family. The learning outcomes are practical as I am able to incorporate them in my personal and professional life.
Middle schools in the city have an extremely vigorous vetting program for its students. The schools look for the highest performing individuals and the ones with the best behavior’s and most success tend to get in. To apply for these exclusive public schools students enter the middle-school choice program, unfortunately for many poorer students from poorer school districts it’s difficult to enter this program. Also it is more difficult for historically marginalized minorities to be able to meet the criteria, as they are more likely to be punished for bad behavior than white students who behave in the same manor, they attend poorer schools, with less resources, and they come from lower income neighborhoods. This combination makes it so schools in the metropolitan area and city are greatly divided by race and ethnicity and it also increases school segregation and
If I were to create a class, it would explore the topic of English Language Learners (ELL) and their transition into the United States school system with an emphasis on the lack of participation in after school activities. Throughout my volunteer work, I have noticed within my community that often times ELL students only partake in activities during school hours. Whether the inability to obtain transportation or apathy on the part of the caregiver, students miss out on crucial social and academic experiences. Financial issues, language barriers, or insecurity are other reasons possible gaps in participation between ELL and non-ELL students exist. The opportunities for these students to get involved, such as sports, music, and academic clubs
With social and emotional skills, a high-quality learning environment that has high-quality classroom structure and rules, commitment to the academic success of all students and high performance expectations, student learning is optimized. Attitudes towards learning, behaviour in and out of the classroom and academic performance have shown improvement with development from quality social and emotional learning that is supported through parent involvement and integrated throughout the entire curriculum.
There are many school-wide behavior expectations that will included in my future planning to establish a learning environment and decrease disruptions in the classroom. For this reason, I will teach social behavior to students during my lecture and provide opportunities so they can interact among each other. According to Flannery and Fenning (2014), teachers need to recognize and respond to the need to teach appropriate social behavior at the same time they are teaching the specific lesson (Flannery & Fenning, 2014). I chose these expectations mainly because it helps students meet their needs with a positive behavior and provide opportunities for students to develop social skills. Teachers need to provide opportunities for all students to practice and enhance their social skills (Banks & Obiakor, 2015). Another reason why I chose these expectations is because it enhances student’s positive behavior of culturally and linguistically diverse students. For instance, different resources will be assigned to students where they will be able to practice their skills and change their attitude to become better citizens. For this reason, schools must begin focusing on providing students the skills, attitudes, and knowledge they will need to be successful in the pluralistic and interdependent world in which students will live and work as adults (Diaz-Rico, 2014). Providing meaningful
McNeal, Ralph. “Extracurricular Activities and High School Dropouts.” Sociology of Education v68n1: Jan 1995, 62-80.
By including student families and the community in school events, it is possible to create a climate that is positive and ensures success. According to Crescerance, a web-based educational research company, numerous studies show that engaging families in their children’s education increases student success and decreases dropout rates. Their findings state that research also shows that community engagement is essential for student achievement as well as building and sustaining school improvement and creating school cultures that support all students. Tapping into community stakeholders allows schools to utilize these resources while creating a relationship opportunities for both schools and the families they
Compton and Hoffman described positive schools as being “caring communities that are built around cooperative relationships” (2013, p. 269). Research has shown that our brains are designed for social relationships (Wilson & Conyers, 2011a), and people learn language and thinking skills best in the context of a positive relationship (Willingham, 2009). In Thinking for Results, Wilson and Conyers stated that, “More than any other element of education, the teacher makes the largest difference in the amount of student learning” (2011b, p. 11). By encouraging positive relationships between teachers and students as well as students with other students, the classroom environment will not only be more enjoyable but will also help students to learn
After reading Hallway Hangers, a sense of the complex relationship between poverty and education is gained: it a dualistic one. In some views, education is a means out of poverty, yet those who grow up poor often have different opportunities, hopes, and experiences in their school years. During my time thus far at Colgate, I have participated and watched many sporting events on campus, and found that local families attend and cheer with as much enthusiasm as the students. Similarly, on National Athletes appreciation Day last year the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) ran a program at both the elementary and high schools in Hamilton, providing question and answer periods for the students and giving them skills clinics. The tremendous respect that I felt that the students gave me was overwhelming, not because I was just an athlete, but because I attended Colgate University. While observing the sporting events and the community outreach programs I realized then that Colgate is a virtual mecca for this area. So a double standard is evident: the presence of a relatively prestigious college is no doubt an inspiration to local students; but the reality of the matter is - how many of these youths could, and would, achieve a college diploma?
Rizzolo, Allison. "PUBLICAGENDA.ORG - Survey: Sports, Arts, Clubs, Volunteering -- Out-of-School Activities Play Crucial, Positive Role for Kids." Survey: Sports, Arts, Clubs, Volunteering -- Out-of-School Activities Play Crucial, Positive Role for Kids. Public Agenda, 16 Nov. 2004. Web. 5 Mar. 2014