Predictions on the Highest and Lowest Achievers in an Elementary School Class
The highest achievers and the lowest achievers in an elementary class can sometimes be treated differently because of their achievement levels. Without even knowing the class very well it can be determined who in the class is more likely to be a higher achiever and who is not as gifted. Even though it is evident sometimes who is the least and highest achievers a great deal of the time the best achievers can be overlooked if you simply watch a class for an hour.
One student who I picked out, as a high achiever was a boy named Travis. Travis performed above average in gym class and was overall a better athlete and competitor than the other students in the class. This overall fitness made me consider him to be a student who was a higher achiever. Since he was better at athletics then I reasoned that he might be better at other aspects of school besides athletics. Travis also exhibited math skills by beating the rest of the class consistently in the math assignments that where done during the class as well as having the right answers.
Another student that I considered a high achiever based on my observations was a boy named James. James was well dressed, wearing church type clothes. He was also an outgoing a generally happy kid who didn’t seem to mind being in school or in the class. The happiness that he exhibits gives you the feeling that he must be a high achiever because if he was unhappy about the situation than he would not try as hard. However, since he does seem to be happy then he would try his best and be enthusiastic about learning.
The last student that I picked out as someone who is a higher achiever is a girl who pays attention very well and seems to follow the teacher’s line of thought throughout the class. As well as paying attention and participation in class this girl, Jackie, asked an insightful question that needed to be asked. The question pertained to a fundraising activity and Jackie asked for the teacher to clarify a certain aspect that could be interpreted in a number of different ways.
In the ancient Egyptian culture, the belief was that there was a life force and spirit inside of the body, known as the ‘Ka’. Therefore, mummification was performed as a ritual to preserve the physical features of the body as well as to protect its inner spirit, mainly to ensure that the ‘Ka’ could recognize the body where it may dwell in the eternal life. Thus, the funerary psychology of ancient Egyptians was that death did not bring an end to living, but instead was only an escape from the physical human life and a gateway to immortal being. Due to the fact that a being’s life span was short in ancient times, people’s main hopes rested in their afterlives, where they would be with the gods (Stockstad 121).
Beginning in the late 1940s, as the Cold War escalated between the United States, the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China, the United States went through a period of intense anti-communist tensions and suspicion. Many thousands of individuals were suspected of being Soviet spies, Communists, or communist sympathizers. Although the American Communist Party was never illegal under Federal law, membership in the party or support of its goals were regarded by many as tantamount to treason. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of this era of anti-communism. The term McCarthyism was coined that same year to describe and condemn the senator's methods, which were widely seen as demagogic and based on reckless, unsubstantiated accusations. Later the term was applied more generally to the anti-communism of the late 1940s through the late 1950s; today, it is often used even more broadly, to describe public attacks made on persons' character and/or patriotism that involve the sort of tactics associated with McCarthy.
Many of the arguments against ability grouping is the concern for the psychological and social well being of the children involved, especially children placed in the lower-achieving ability groups. At a young age, children become more and more aware of differentiating characteristics, especially those children who are labeled as the “slower” groups, while others are labeled as the “gifted” or “accelerated” groups. Being labeled can leave children feeling discouraged. For example, if teachers are focusing more of their time and energy on the “gifted students” or the “slower students” the groups will not be getting the guided instructions that is needed for learning the content. Burns and Mason (1998) suggest that ability grouping may inadvertently create unequal learning opportunities for students. Even at the elementary level, this practice may give some students opportunities for more effective teachers, class composition, and instruction; thus giving a better chance at higher achievement. Since, students are getting the appropriate amount of time with the instructor, it has the possibility of leading to feelings of segregation. This can be difficult for young students to manage, thus causing unnecessary arguments, or a negative self-esteem, for those who are considered the “non gifted” students. Another disadvantage of ability grouping is that some believe that students will be treated differently and the teacher’s expectations will decrease for those who are put in the lower groups. Teachers may find themselves being more positive, patient with and respectful to students in higher ability groups that they are able to teach with less effort. Even if teachers do so unconsciously, they may treat students in the different groups as superior of inferior based on their groupings, leading to the perception by the students
Grades also cause a seen diversity among the students. That would be the half that get great grades, and the other half with lower grades. At a young age children can realize which section the fall into. Some students that fall into the lower half may push themselves to do better, but others will not. They see no point when they think they cannot be the higher half. The odds are not in those kids favor, and they know
Students come across many complications during their school career. Some students are actually smart but just don’t apply themselves, or even have hardships that are going on in their lives. These can be fixed if you can find motivation and confidence. In the story “Zero,” Paul Logan coasts through high school and college. Logan doesn’t know the tools to succeed in school, which causes his grades to fall. In the story “The Jacket,” Gary Soto explains how the way you dress influences how you feel about yourself. Which in this case him getting an ugly jacket; which causes him to be depressed and his grades to fall. Albeit Logan and Soto went through similar hardships, they both succeed with motivation and confidence.
The article “How to Be a Success” by Malcom Gladwell speaks about how success is something that can be achieved if you put the time and work into it, and how success is not achieved overnight but rather through long hours of constant practice. His article is targeted to more than one group of individuals. The groups of individuals that his article targets are teenage students, young adults, adults, people who want to become an expert, or want to succeed in something they have an interest in and in general society. Another article also related to the success of an individual “An A+ Student Regrets His Grades” by Afraj Gill describes how in society many schools focus more on students’ grades, rather than their learning, and how a student is
Joseph McCarthy’s negative influence first manifested itself through his ambition to gain political power. He used his senatorial position to litigate persons who were thought to be part of the Communist Party. Examples this would be the targeting of the Hollywood Ten. These were citizens in the film industry who were cited for contempt of Congress after refusing to answer the questions of McCarthy. The author of The Crucible, Arthur Miller, was even cited for contempt of Congress when he refused to identify writers that attended communist meetings. He went on to explain how the House Un-American Activities Committee, or HUAC, was deceitfully informing citizens that the Soviet way of controlling culture could be successfully exported to America. According to professor and historian Regin Schmidt, when McCarthyism was at its height, only 1% of the public was worried about the internal threat of Communism. This fact shows how manipulative and cynical the government was when fueling the fire of the anti-communist movement.
Some students do want to succeed in life however successful needs to be defined in order to figure out criteria for success. According to Merriam-Webster, success is an “a degree of succeeding” and “a favorable or desired outcome”. In other words, success is having a series of goals set in order to achieve a bigger goal or accomplishment. When someone tries to obtain success, students need the necessary resources and support from those around them. Dan Goldhaber, an economist from the University of Washington, school achievement is caused by problems that don’t have anything to do with school (Ravitch 2). There are students who can succeed i...
Throughout my years at The Art Institute of Phoenix, I have always made great efforts to achieve or obtain the best possible grades. I have maintained a presence on the honor roll in one form or another, and I earned a commendable grade point average of at least a 3.8 or better every quarter. Though grades play a large part of the academic achievement, I also believe the quality of the work done also plays a part. The quality of the work not only shows that you care about what you are doing, but that you strive to always do better.
What determines how well a student is doing in school? Most people would agree that the answer to this question is how good that student’s grades are. However, does making good grades always mean that they are learning the material that is provided? What seems to matter now is making the grades necessary to graduate from high school, get into a good college, graduate again, and from there proceed to get a good job and so on. It is a game that everyone plays in order to be successful in life; how you achieve those grades isn’t important. Schools should be focusing on students actually learning, and not competing to see who can get the best grades.
The most common ancient Egyptian burial practice is the mummification process as depicted in source B. Mummification is a ritual that embalmers performed when a pharaoh died. Source B is a photograph of the canoptic jars which are a main component of the mummification process. The first step in the mummification process is the removal and preservation of most of the internal organs, such as the lungs, the stomach, the liver and intestines. These organs are then separately embalmed and placed into canoptic jars as source B reveals. These jars were often decorated with one of the four animal-headed sons of the god Horus. Each head is believed to be the protector of each organ within the jar and is dedicated to a specific deity. The preservation of the organs is significant as they allowed the dead person to breathe and eat in the afterlife. The internal organs were then wrapped and put into either the body or put in boxes instead of sitting in jars. Canoptic jars were still placed in the tomb but they were solid or empty and provided a symbolic purpose. In Tutankhamun’s tomb the canoptic jars were discovered in a shrine that was found in the treasury room of the tomb. Source B is useful is when understanding the mummification process.
Thus, the art and architecture of Ancient Egypt stemmed directly from their religion. Egyptian theology, with its deified pharaohs and strange animal-headed gods, was complicated, but the most important belief was that survival after death depended upon the preservation of the body. This belief would influence the architectural design of the tomb, where the corpse was ultimately sealed (Silverman:142, 1997). Immortality was only for privileged royal and priestly beings (Stierlin:54, 1983).This implies that their tombs would be somewhat prestigious and not just and ordinary burial site. At the day of resurrection the Ka or soul would re-enter the dead body; this meant that it must be there, intact, ready for that moment. It followed logically, that 'once the corpse was embalmed or mummified, it must be preserved in an impregnable tomb.
Finally, it is a general opinion among many that academic performance is a manner of will and determination of an individual rather than their socioeconomic status. For instance, in schools of higher learning, there are a lot of students from richer backgrounds who do not perform well as compared to those perceived to be from poor backgrounds (Sacerdote, 2002). Research has shown that while socioeconomic status may influence the availability or access to learning materials, it is the student’s personal determination to excel that determines the kind of lifestyle they
Research reveals that the higher the social class, the higher the levels of educational achievement are likely to be. The children of parents in higher social classes are more likely to stay on in post compulsory education, more likely to achieve examination passes when at school, and more likely to gain university entrance. These features painted a true picture of British education in the twentieth century and can be argued to follow this trend today. However, whether there has been any reduction in the inequalities is more debatable, but some research suggests that these inequalities are as great as ever, despite the overall improvements within the education system. Many researchers argue that IQ tests are biased in favour of the middle class, since members of this group largely construct them.
Having explained the reason most children have become disheartened at the thought of school, I now turn my attention to the students who do realize school’s educational value. These are the students that will continue to prosper throughout their lives because they realize the extreme importance of education. There is a secret, yet not so secret, motivation behind their determination to exceed standards and expectations in school. The secret they withhold is their overwhelming desire to be successful in the future.