Choice is something that I feel we take for granted in our everyday life. We have the choice of what we eat, wear, and the daily activities that we do. I know that personally I do not realize how important that luxury is, especially for students in school. Being able to decide what to write about and what to do projects on increases a student’s motivation to want to do well on the assignment. However, the challenging part of choice comes down to how much freedom should be given to children in elementary school. In my opinion, the lower elementary grades should be allowed to have more freedom than the upper elementary years. Not everyone may agree with me on this, but here is why I feel this way. First of all, when introducing writing, it is …show more content…
Boys in elementary school, especially the upper level grades, have a tendency to be influenced by the games that they play or through various exposures. Why is it that boys tend to me more heavily influenced by outside factors as compared to girls? Or does it only seem that way because of the assumption that girls are better at reading and writing? Ganske writes, “it is important to reconsider the nature of the ‘literacy gap’ between boys and girls as a symptom of the kinds of things that are implicitly valued in school, and not necessarily as predetermined differences in their interests and abilities” (2014, p. 120). Boys and girls can be interested in the same types of things, but as a teacher it is important to reach each child in the room and not just focus on one group. Choice is the main way to foster that type of environment, “we can see how choice is integral to the creativity, excitement, and ingenuity it can nurture” (Ganske, 2014, p. 121). This all may seem obvious, but in third and fourth grade this is important to think about. Interest are more solidified when it comes to their writing so being presented with issues of boys not producing the best work when a topic does not interest them becomes more …show more content…
After reading the article about helping struggling writers, I found that part about self-regulation. I had never thought about the fact that if a writer is struggling, it may be difficult for them to correct there own writing: “struggling writers do little revision without teacher or peer support, and the majority of revisions made by struggling writers involve only minor changes to surface-level features of the text” (Helsel, Greenberg, 2007, p. 2). In the classroom, it could be beneficial to have a mini-lesson, or even a full lesson because it is so important, dedicated to teaching what goes into self-regulation of writing pieces. At the third and fourth grade level this could look more like a rubric than in the lower levels. I do not fully support the idea of rubrics, but if it could help teach about self-regulating then it has a beneficial
Sadker, Myra, David Sadker, and Susan Klein. "The Issue of Gender in Elementary and Secondary Education." Review of Research in Education 17 (1991): 269. JSTOR. Web. 14 Mar. 2012.
The differences between the two children and the choices they made regarding their play were fairly obvious. Though a number of factors would likely influence the way that children chose to play, the main difference that could be inferred from the two children without looking into their backgrounds, was their sex. Choosing to compare gender is something that seemed to come naturally after referring to the observation as well as from personal preferences and interests. The idea of sex and gender differences is one of importance and the reasoning behind it provided an insight to the way our society supports girls and boys in different manners. A number of differences can be taken when comparing how girls and boys play including the role models they choose to copy, either a male or female, how physical the play is and the other classmates that children choose to play with.
Tannen does a great job linking the differences in communication and her points do feed into and support one another. She argues that boys play with a hierarchal structure and often play games that have winners and losers, while girls tend to play in small groups doing activities that do not have winners or losers. However, beyond statements and description there was very little evidence to back either of these. I also found myself
FAPE , also known as Free Appropriate Public Education is a law that was passed in during the 1970s, a time in which civil rights for all people were being pushed. FAPE states that special education services and general education services are to be delivered without charge of the family, but of that of the public expense. It is important to recognize that the services should be mandated given by public education and if is is unavailable private services can be provided (Gartin, Murdick & Fowler, p. 54, 2003)
How beneficial would it be for students to have a free period during the school day? I will give you the reasons on to why I think students should have a free period during the school day. The reasons why we should have a free period include, having time to hang out with friends, time to get help from teachers with assignments, or catch some Z’s. One of the reasons students should have a free period is because it will allow them to relax, take a brain break, and hang out with friends. Students deserve to have this extra free time because school can be really stressful and having this free time in school to do whatever you want will help us to reset and recharge.
Romatowski, Jane; Trepanier-Street, Mary. "The Influence of Children's Literature on Gender Roles Perceptions: A Reexamination." Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 26, No. 3, 1999
Self-regulation is a critical component in learning to write. There have been 25 studies that have shown that teaching students self-regulation strategies in writing has improved their ability to write. Self-regulation strategies have even improved writing in students with learning disabilities. So what is self-regulation in writing? In general self-regulation refers to the thoughts, feelings, and actions writers initiate to reach their writing goals. There are three types of self-regulation writers can impose to help improve their writing. They are environmental, behavioral, and personal. Taking a closer look into each of these will allow one to have a greater understanding of why self-regulation is a critical component in learning to write.
Sending a child to a gender based school, is a very big decision to make. The decision is so big, that looking at what research has to say about the topic could alter one’s decision to send their child to a gender based school. “Educators must apply different approaches in teaching make, and female students” (Gurian). This is said by Gurian, because he also believes that boys and girls learn differently. “Social pressures can be gentler and your child can learn at his own pace” (Kennedy).
Use of School Vouchers There has been a lot of debate recently over the use of school vouchers. Voucher programs offer students attending both public and private schools tuition vouchers. It gives taxpayers the freedom to pick where their tax dollars go. In theory, good schools will thrive with money and bad schools will lose students and close its doors. Most people feel that taking taxpayer money from public schools and using this money as vouchers for private schools is a violation of the constitution.
It seems that single-sex education perpetuates gender stereotypes and promotes gender bias among students (Taylor). Gender-separate education requires schools and teachers to create gender-oriented courses, facilities, and learning environment. As a result, sing-sex schools exacerbate sexist attitudes and “feelings of superiority toward women” (Guarisco). It is fair to argue that the best way to achieve gender equality is to promote rather than eliminate interaction among girls and boys. However, girls in the sex-mixed class receive less attention from teachers than boys, which may lead to gender bias. More precisely, boys always have disciplinary issues, such as interruption; teachers have to pay more attention to boys’ behaviors in order to proceed the lecture more smoothly. Girls may feel less important and supportive in male-dominated classes; boys may think that males are smarter and far superior than females. Single-sex schools can address both girls’ and boys’ issues of gender stereotypes directly and accordingly. Male students may be freer to engage in some activities they have not considered before in mixed schools. For example, boys feel pressure to follow some non-macho interests when girls stay around them; however, the all-boys schools eliminate their pressure toward gender stereotyping to pursue music, dance, and drawing. Single-sex schools would help boys explore and develop themselves. Also, girls in sex-separate schools show more confidence and power (Guarisco). They could receive full attention from teachers and express their opinions in science classes without worrying about the boys’ banter. They may realize that they are as important as boys. Hence, both girls and boys can be free from gender stereotypes and benefit from a same-sex learning
Girls tend to doubt themselves, while boys think they can do anything. Boys need to be brought down from the clouds while girls need to be dug out of a hole (Mullins 3). David Chadwell says, "Structure and connection are two key concepts when examining gender in the classroom. " All students certainly need both, but it seems that teachers need to consider the issue of structure more with boys and the issue of connection more with girls" (7). And Kristen Stanberry’s research has shown, "Some research indicates that girls learn better when classroom temperatures are warm, while boys perform better in cooler classrooms.
Bonomo, V. (2010). Gender matters in elementary education: Research-based strategies to meet the distinctive learning needs of boys and girls. Educational Horizons, 88(4), 257-264
This problem occurs in schools everywhere and is starting to become more evident in today's society. The problem is that boys and girls learning potential are not being reached when put into the same teaching atmosphere. Girls seem to be out smarting boys in many classes. While boys excel in math and sciences and girls seem to be better in English. The styles in which boys and girls feel comfortable with are extremely different. The learning styles of girls usually contain socializing and context. For instance, most girls like to talk in small groups about the current discussion. They also like hands on activities or real life situations to compare things to. Boys are confrontational and formal. They need to be challenged by their teachers to help motivate them to become better students and be prepared. In contrast girls do not like to be confronted by teachers who are asking for an immediate answers. In most cases, girls seem to be more reserved and modest than boys about their intelligence ("What are someÉ) are. Their differences may not seem evident but make a difference to reaching their highest learning potential.
Students are more focused and therefore have better test scores in single-sex classrooms. Although stereotypes are formed because of separating genders, a study in the 2009 British Educational Research Journal concluded that in single-sex classrooms, girls achieve more in math and science while boys achieve more in English (Kwong). Stereotypes have been developed early on of what girls and boys are more proficient at. Naturally girls are better at English; boys, math and science (compound sentence: elliptical construction). Single-sex classes encourage girls to pursue more in science and math and boys in English because it takes away gender stereotypes. If a boy and a girl are in the same science class working together, the girl becomes the scribe to write down data while the boy is doing the experiment (Kwong). Math and scien...
Academic freedom should be a liberty granted to students and teachers of all ages. “Research in cognitive, developmental and educational psychology shows that learning and development are active self-regulated processes that require the freedom to seek information, to formulate and express your own ideas, and to engage in discussion. Intellectual freedom is crucial to intellectual development from kindergarten to college” (Moshman). Many teachers that are tenured into a university of school district can say and do just about anything they want, whereas a teacher that has been apart of an institution for five years will be removed from the school for something the tenured colleague would not even be questioned about. In high schools the administration is so worried about parents complaints and how it will effect their reputation as a school that they let it affect the education that their students are receiving. Allowing grade school students the ability to be apart of the process building their schedule and education would be a step in the right direction. At this age students want to be more independent and are willing to experience all types of classes and learning types. When a student gets to college they are expected to have some kind of a major picked out. If the