Motivating High School English Students Through Practical and Creative Writing Assignments

High school English class content in the United States is most often geared toward responding to literary texts and passing standardized tests, and because of this lack of variety and purpose in the curriculum, students are not motivated to write (Daisey, 2009). I analyzed teacher-action research studies to find ways of effectively incorporating creative and practical writing in the classroom to increase motivation and self-efficacy in students. If educators rethink the English curriculum to be more writing-centric, students will become better writers and communicators by practicing a wider variety of writing styles. Additionally, giving students freedom of choice in their assignments and providing assignments that have future relevance can help students find enjoyment in writing. Incorporating assignments that foster autonomy and individual voice is crucial to the development of our nation’s writers (Cox, 2009)

The Impact of Divorce on Adolescent Students

Divorce is a rapidly growing issue in today’s society and the children are the ones who are impacted the most (Dykeman, 2003). In this literature review on how divorce impacts adolescent students, including grades 4-12, several studies have been analyzed that cover the topics of family environment, academic achievement, and behavioral problems associated with divorce. The findings show divorce has several negative impacts on children including: struggling to adjust to a new family environment, decreased chances of reaching full academic potential, and an increased chance of problem behavior inside and outside of school. The information in this literature review is important because it informs parents, teachers, and administrators understand why children act certain ways while coping or adjusting to a divorce. It is crucial that we understand how children are impacted by divorce so we can help children adjust to divorce in a more positive and beneficial way

The Untold History in Textbooks: The Bias and Absence of History in U.S. History Textbooks and the Impact on Black Students

The purpose of this literature review is to recognize the shortcomings of history textbooks in secondary education and discover how to bring change to history classrooms. The main problem with history textbooks is the amount of pertinent information that is simply not included within the text. In today’s society, a lot of African American history is left out of textbooks and this makes it difficult for black students to make meaningful connections to the material, while also decreasing their interest in learning about history. The findings show how alternative teaching methods can effectively include more African American history which, and as a result these efforts can increase African American students’ interest in history overall. This research is important because teachers, administrators, and parents can see how controlling history affects students in today’s classrooms and how it can impact students in future classrooms as well

Giving Students a Voice in the Grading Process

Throughout a student’s academic career a strong emphasis is placed on grades. Because of this students are often pressured to perform to standards and expectations created by the teacher. Through implementing contract grading, a more democratic approach to grading, students and teachers co-create a tentative syllabus and evaluation system. This study examines the positive and negative effects of contract grading implemented at the undergraduate level through analysis of case studies and teacher action research studies. Special attention is given to how contract grading affects a student’s academic performance, how a more student-centered classroom influences teacher-student relationships, and how this approach can be applied to a high school classroom since little research has been carried out at the high school level

Aspects of Parental Involvement that Increase Student Academic Success

There always has been an overarching trend that parental involvement has a positive impact on the academic success of a student. Despite this idea, there is no definition of “parental involvement” so we are left without knowing which practices promote the academic success of a student. Through the study of many peer reviewed research studies and articles, I have focused my literature review on the aspects of parental involvement that have the most beneficial impact on student academic success – involvement at home and involvement in a student’s motivation (Gonzalex-DeHass, Willems & Holbein, 2005). With this information, present and future teachers and parents can improve the educational success and experience for students

Challenging the Current Curricula: A Look into Individualizing Teaching

In many school districts in the United States, teachers are expected to follow a strict classroom curriculum, created by the administration, state, or other groups rather than the teachers. Many teachers have reported facing struggles associated with following this type of mandated curriculum. Some teachers need guidance and don’t have the time or resources to be able to create a curriculum on their own, while others know their students best and feel having a mandated curriculum may prevent some students from being able to learn. My paper will explore the benefits and drawbacks of the mandated curricula currently in use. My findings suggest it is beneficial to have a set curriculum to ensure all students receive equal chances to excel and gain the proper knowledge for their grade level, but will also allow the teachers to have flexibility adjusting their curriculums to scaffold to the individual needs of their students

Teacher Immediacy

Actively engaging students within the classroom is one of the most challenging aspects of the classroom environment. Behaviors that depict an instructor as relatable and understandable can have positive effects upon student engagement in class. An instructor acting with these types of behaviors is said to have teacher immediacy. The desired outcomes connected to teacher immediacy are effective increases in a student’s learning and motivation. The research lacks a conclusive evidence of a direct link between immediacy and student progression, however, an instructor’s awareness of proper immediate behaviors has shown to have a positive effect on a student’s perception of their relationships with teachers. Through a comprehensive study of teacher action research, case studies, and survey research over the past decade, this paper delves into the correlation between immediate behavior and student progress

What We See and Why it Matters: How Competency in Visual Literacy Can Enhance Student Learning

In today\u27s world, we use more visuals than ever before. Research suggests that the balance between words and images has shifted considerably calling for new forms of literacy (as cited in Brumberger, 2011). Visual literacy goes above and beyond the traditional concepts of reading and writing, expanding literacy to include visuals. The analysis and reveiw of current visual literacy research suggests teaching visual literacy is necessary for students to become capable of navigating the visually driven world we live in today. The research highlights the importance of present day society. Findings suggest that the ability to create images will help students better learn to decipher, understand and communicate with images. If there is a better understanding of how and why visuals are developed, then the use of visuals can become more ffective, ergo enhancing student learning

The Effect of Class Size on Lower Level Students Academic Achievement

We examined the process of selective attention and its relation to implicit and explicit memory encoding. To further understand the mechanisms behind selective attention, we asked if implicit learning of irrelevant information is encoded differently than explicit learning. We used the flankers task to examine selective attention. This task involves responding to a center item (i.e. the target), while ignoring the irrelevant flankers. Participants completed the correlated flankers task as well as implicit and explicit memory tasks. The correlated flanker effect is the decreased reaction time on the trials in which the flankers that are correlated with the correct response are present versus uncorrelated trials (Miller, 1987). Results were contrary to what we expected and reasons as to why this occurred are discussed. Opportunity for participation in discussion is welcome