Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Grades
Grades have had an important impact in schools. Anything students do are graded. The purpose of grades is so teachers can see that the students pay attention to what they are teaching in class. Another purpose is so the students have something to strive for. They have grades so the students try in school. If there weren't grades then students wouldn't do their homework, they wouldn't pay attention in class, and they wouldn't study or try on tests. Grades are there to keep students in line and make sure they pay attention, and learn as much as they can from the teacher. I think that the traditional grading system is that they use a 100 point scale, because they can split it up into letter grades. I think that they use letters so students can have the grade be represented by something. I don't think that the grading system accurately represents our learning and knowledge. For example, you can be an A-student in homework and class work; however, when you have to present something in the front of the class and you get a D. It doesn't show that you knew the topic or not. I think that we should combine both the standard-based grading and the traditional based grading. Then we can get the "best of both worlds." Grades have been important in schools since the beginning.
Creativity Crisis
All over America schools are killing creativity. The definition of creativity is the production of something original and useful. Not many schools have very creative class. Art can be one; however, with some schools budget, they fairly often cut, art and music first. Music can also be a creative class. You can express yourself though music and play whatever you want to. In you average classes like, math, language arts, and science, there isn't much you can do. Most of the time you do what the teacher tells you to, and read from a textbook, or the novel. Not much creativity coming form those subjects. How are students suppose to be creative, all the classes they take do not involve them to be creative? We need a class in school that will help us express creativity, or we will lose it. Just like the saying "if you don't use it, you'll lose it." Each year creativity test scores drop. Even though creativity is dropping in our country, there are still certain kids that have creativity. There are actually a few signs that show the child is creative. In the article "The Creativity Crisis" the author says that pre-schoolers that spend a lot of their time doing role play tend to be highly creative. For example when my brother was little he use to pretend that he was fighting "bad guys" where ever he was. Playing in a baseball game he would just run around it the out field punching the air. It wouldn't matter where he was, if he was bored he would start, "acting". The article also says that from fouth grade and beyond creativity starts to suffer. I really belive that is true because you start getting more and more work, and you don't have time to draw or to be creative. For my brother, however, I believe that he is still very creative even though he is in fifth grade. Sooner or later creativity in children will disappear, unless we do something about it.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Learning Styles Test.
Both tests taught me quite a bit about myself. In the Gregorc Learning styles Test, I found out that I like to learn in concrete sequential. I never really thought about the way I learn and how I do it. In the Gardner Multiple Intelligence Test, it told me that I am strongly logical-mathematical. I thought this test told me a lot more than the other test did. I had no idea how i like to learn. After the logical-mathematical, I was spatial. I think that this knowledge would help me because I know how I learn now. So it will be easier for me to grasp things now that I know how I learn. Those test told me so much about myself.
Three people i admire are my dad, my mom and my grandmother. I admire my dad because he works hard everyday and he still likes to be with me and my brother. I think that his learning style for the Garner test would be a logical-mathematical learner figures out things by reason, and questions, and calculating. In the Gregorc test my dad would probably be concrete sequential. He likes to be organized and have checklists for things, and he is very detailed. My mom would most likely be a intrapersonal learner in the Gardener test, because she usually is very quiet when she is learning things and she does like setting goals. In the Gregorc test she would be a abstract random because she is very sensitive and emotional, and she has very deep feelings. My grandmother would be a interpersonal learner because she likes leading and talking things over with people. For the Gregorc my grandmother would probably be abstract sequential because she likes reading, she think very intellectually and she usually does a lot of note taking.
Three people i admire are my dad, my mom and my grandmother. I admire my dad because he works hard everyday and he still likes to be with me and my brother. I think that his learning style for the Garner test would be a logical-mathematical learner figures out things by reason, and questions, and calculating. In the Gregorc test my dad would probably be concrete sequential. He likes to be organized and have checklists for things, and he is very detailed. My mom would most likely be a intrapersonal learner in the Gardener test, because she usually is very quiet when she is learning things and she does like setting goals. In the Gregorc test she would be a abstract random because she is very sensitive and emotional, and she has very deep feelings. My grandmother would be a interpersonal learner because she likes leading and talking things over with people. For the Gregorc my grandmother would probably be abstract sequential because she likes reading, she think very intellectually and she usually does a lot of note taking.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Myths and Truths, Ups, and Downs About Being Gifted
Many children all over the world are considered gifted children. There are many myths and truths, and advantages and disadvantages of being a gifted student. Read the rest of this blog post to find out more about; the myths and truth about gifted and the ups and downs (advantages and disadvantages.) about being gifted. Being gifted myself i have faced plenty of the ups and downs to being gifted.
Some "Ups" To Being Gifted.
There are many advantages to being gifted. First off we are smarter than the average person. Gifted kids can grasp and understand more complicated topics better than the average student. Being smarter can help students in advanced classes, and understand them better. Being a gifted student also makes you more creative. You are able to think differently than others around you. Each gifted student is creative in their own way. All of gifted students may be able to see things differently then each other. Being gifted can also help you get into a good college. Being in a special gifted class where only a select number of students get in, would look really good on college applications. Being gifted has many ups to it.
Some "Downs" To Being Gifted
Not only are there ups to being gifted there are plenty of downs too. For starters there are the expectations. Parents expect their gifted student to excel in every subject they do. They expect them to get all A's. With difficult expectations come lots of pressure. Pressure to get all A's, pressure to be a good student in school. Expectations not only come from parents but from teachers too. They'll expect you to get all A's in their class just because you are gifted. And pressure comes in when you don't want to disappoint your parents and your teachers. Another down to being gifted is being bullied. Gifted students often get bullied for being smart and different then other kids in their grade. When a gifted student is being bullied he/she will try and dumb themselves down, so they don't attract attention to themselves. If gifted students dumb themselves down they may lose their giftedness forever and it will never com back. One last down to being gifted is asynchronous development, which means all of their maturities mature at the same rate. The maturities include; Physical Maturity, Emotional Maturity, Intellectual Maturity, and Social Maturity. One example for asynchronous development is your intellectual maturity is fully matured and you are fairly higher above the average kids in your grade but, you still look fairly young while all of your peers look much older than you. Most people will think of you as being not as smart as all the other student, but in reality, you are on a much higher level of intelligence then they are. And those are some downs to being a gifted child.
The Myths and Truths of Being Gifted.
There are many myths and truths of being gifted. One myth is that a student that is getting bad grades can't be gifted. The truth is that some gifted students are sometimes so advanced that they get bored in class. They become very bored in unchallenged classroom. Another myth is that gifted student will do fine in all of the average classes. The truth is that gifted students need a class just for them. They also need a teacher that knows how to teach gifted students. Another myth is that AP classes are the classes for gifted children. The truth is that AP classes are college level classes that are taught by a high school teacher for students that want to work hard. One last myth is gifted students don't need help and they will do fine on their own. The truth is that gifted students still need guidance from well trained teacher, that know how to challenge and support them. For more myths and truths of being a gifted child go to National Association of Gifted Children.
Some "Ups" To Being Gifted.
There are many advantages to being gifted. First off we are smarter than the average person. Gifted kids can grasp and understand more complicated topics better than the average student. Being smarter can help students in advanced classes, and understand them better. Being a gifted student also makes you more creative. You are able to think differently than others around you. Each gifted student is creative in their own way. All of gifted students may be able to see things differently then each other. Being gifted can also help you get into a good college. Being in a special gifted class where only a select number of students get in, would look really good on college applications. Being gifted has many ups to it.
Some "Downs" To Being Gifted
Not only are there ups to being gifted there are plenty of downs too. For starters there are the expectations. Parents expect their gifted student to excel in every subject they do. They expect them to get all A's. With difficult expectations come lots of pressure. Pressure to get all A's, pressure to be a good student in school. Expectations not only come from parents but from teachers too. They'll expect you to get all A's in their class just because you are gifted. And pressure comes in when you don't want to disappoint your parents and your teachers. Another down to being gifted is being bullied. Gifted students often get bullied for being smart and different then other kids in their grade. When a gifted student is being bullied he/she will try and dumb themselves down, so they don't attract attention to themselves. If gifted students dumb themselves down they may lose their giftedness forever and it will never com back. One last down to being gifted is asynchronous development, which means all of their maturities mature at the same rate. The maturities include; Physical Maturity, Emotional Maturity, Intellectual Maturity, and Social Maturity. One example for asynchronous development is your intellectual maturity is fully matured and you are fairly higher above the average kids in your grade but, you still look fairly young while all of your peers look much older than you. Most people will think of you as being not as smart as all the other student, but in reality, you are on a much higher level of intelligence then they are. And those are some downs to being a gifted child.
The Myths and Truths of Being Gifted.
There are many myths and truths of being gifted. One myth is that a student that is getting bad grades can't be gifted. The truth is that some gifted students are sometimes so advanced that they get bored in class. They become very bored in unchallenged classroom. Another myth is that gifted student will do fine in all of the average classes. The truth is that gifted students need a class just for them. They also need a teacher that knows how to teach gifted students. Another myth is that AP classes are the classes for gifted children. The truth is that AP classes are college level classes that are taught by a high school teacher for students that want to work hard. One last myth is gifted students don't need help and they will do fine on their own. The truth is that gifted students still need guidance from well trained teacher, that know how to challenge and support them. For more myths and truths of being a gifted child go to National Association of Gifted Children.
Friday, September 14, 2012
First Post
Hey! I'm Taylor and this is my blog :)!!! Okay so I'm in 8th grade, and I'm on team Excel. My favorite subjects are math because it's pretty easy, and gym because I love sports. The topics I like learn about out of school are probably mysteries and crimes. I just think that it's so interesting to guess who committed the crime. What I really like to do in my free time is to play soccer. I really like soccer! Its my favorite sport and then probably softball. I also like to hang out with my friends in my free time. In addition, I like going to amusement parks. I really like roller-coasters, they are so much fun! I'll pretty much go on any roller-coaster. I don't really know what I want to be when I grow up. I think I want to be a teacher because I like helping little kids. What makes me happy is playing soccer and hanging out with my friends :)!!
*Taylor*
*Taylor*
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