The Game of School: Why We All Play It, How It Hurts Kids, and What It Will Take to Change It by Robert L. Fried is a great tool for identifying challenges in school systems and planning school reform. This book explains in great depth the problems faced by students and educators in schools today and ends with a call to action for solving these problems. Some major concepts that arise frequently throughout the book are time being wasted, students feeling powerless and the prioritization of test scores over authentic learning. Time is wasted by everyone in school and is wasted in various ways, for example students are given busy work and teachers rush through a curriculum while students learn nothing. Students, while they are the most important stakeholders, feel as though they have no control over their education.
In the short story “Marble Champ” by Gary Soto teaches us a lesson that if you work hard you will succeed. A scientist named Albert Einstein once said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” In the beginning of the story, we notice how Lupe learns that hard work pays off.
Rumors and assumptions are dangerous when it comes to keeping relationships. An example of the play “Mystery of the Suffocated Seventh Grader” is the game telephone. In the Play Perry Paulson spreads rumors and is a rumor. Liz just assumed that Principal Nolan was talking about Perry Paulson when she overheard him saying how he had killed something.
As Stated by the author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor For Kids, by Thomas Foster, authors use certain varieties of weather conditions in order to set a mood in the story that’s relevant to the scenario present. Foster explains this action as saying, “But an author doesn't have a quick shower of rain, or a flurry or snow, or a flood or a blizzard, for no reason at all (Foster, 59).” What the author is trying to remark is that authors don't put unnecessary weather unless it contributes to the plot or the mood, sometimes even using it as means of ivory. One example of weather being used in the movie clip from Toy Story is rain. The rain didn't start until Sid was just about the release a rocket outside with Buzz attached, which
Have you ever changed your dreams before? In the book We Were Here by Matt de la Pena, Miguel dreams of escaping from his group home and going to Mexico with his friends. Miguel feels guilty about his brother’s death, even though it was an accident. By him running away he believes that it will help him forget his problems and that his disappearance with be a weight lifted off his mother’s shoulders. But when he arrives to the border, he just can’t do it.
I chose the book by Neila Connors, If you Don’t Feed the Teachers, They Eat the Students!:Guide to Success for Administrators and Teachers to review. The book is an easy read and is refreshing in its approach as a guide for administrators. The author uses cooking metaphors to offer some practical advice on how to be an effective leader. Although the tone of the book is light and funny, it does a good job addressing the serious task that all school principals face, creating a positive and encouraging environment for teachers. As the book emphasizes the teachers are the foundation of the school, unhappy staff will not produce successful students.
“What could she do?” (Soto 3). We have all at some point or another been the victim of circumstance, whether we accept it or not. The short story “Mother and Daughter” by Gary Soto tells the story of an instance in which eighth grader, Yollie Moreno, is the victim of circumstance. Yollie is a smart, but innocent, young woman who lives with her impoverished mother.
Against School by John Gatto is an essay that attempts to persuade the reader that public education fails to educate its students. The main way Gatto tries to persuade his audience is by presenting anecdotal evidence and by showing the historical narrative to the education system of the Untied States. Gatto attempts also attempts to reach out to his audience by referring to commonalities in the public education system that have been experienced by many people. Overall the essay is persuasive but lacks any practical authority. The first thing the author does is provide background, background on himself and the situation with education in the United States; and, this is what the author primarily does.
Maturity is the feeling of needing to prove that one is sophisticated and old enough to do certain things. In the short story “Growing Up,” Maria’s family went on a vacation while she stayed at home, but when she heard there was a car crash that happened near where her family was staying, she gets worried and thinks it is all her fault for trying to act mature and angering her father. Society wants to prove how mature they are and they do so by trying to do things that older people do and the symbols, conflict, and metaphors in the text support this theme. First and foremost, in “Growing Up,” Gary Soto’s theme is how society acts older than they are and that they just want to prove they are mature. Maria wants to stay home instead of going
In the novel Schooled, by Gordon Korman, Capricorn Anderson changes from a 13 year old home-schooled hippie who lived in a community called Garland Farms to the most popular boy in the entire school in an unexpected way. The reason why this is a big deal is because Garland farms is a community where only hippies (Cap and his grandmother rain) live. They tend to not do anything in the outside world, except go grocery shopping. Cap is home-schooled, does not go to the outside world often and he hardly knows what anything in the outside world is.
What is school really trying to do with our lives? The article “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto is an article that talks about the problem of schools and how the goals are not what they say they are. First. the author talks about how the school system creates boredom and what could be done to fix it. He then talks about how school is not needed in its required class times, what the schools say the goals are for the students, and where our school system originated from.
In the two stories, 7th Grade by Gary Soto and Charles, the main characters lied to impress or not get in trouble. In 7th Grade, this Victor set a goal and it was that Teresa is going to be his girlfriend this year. Then Victor had French class with Teresa and impressed her by having teresa thinking that he can speak french by mumbling words. In the story Charles the Moms son Laurie would come home from school and even though it was him he would lie to his parents so he wouldn’t get in trouble he would tell his parents “this kid Charles was so bad in school today. He disobeyed the teachers rules and kicked her”.
In Gary Soto’s short story ‘Growing Up,” the main character, Maria, says, “‘I know, I know. You’ve said that a hundred times,’ she snapped.” Maria is acting ungrateful because she doesn’t want to go on vacation with her family and she is arguing with her father about it instead of being grateful for what she has. Being grateful is feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness and being thankful. In the story Maria argues with her father about not wanting to go on vacation with her family and claims that she is old enough to stay home by herself.
Lorena Garcia wrote “She is Old School Like That,” this piece is about sex talks between mothers and daughters in the Latin American community. She examines the way which these talks are given and at what point in the life of the daughters they are given. Garcia points to the different methodology the Latina mothers used when talking to their daughters, and their reactions when they found out their daughters were engaging in sexual activity. Garcia claims that there is a certain pattern in which the Latina mothers behave. These women are the operation with a new definition of sexuality influenced and shaped by the heteronormative and patriarchal society.
In the short story, “Seventh Grade,” by Gary Soto, the author pokes fun at the seventh grade boys in the beginning of a school year. The main characters are Victor, Michael, Mr. Bueller, and Teresa, a girl Victor has a crush on. In the end, Victor learns that is it is always best to be himself. The author describes how Victor attempts to impress his dream girlfriend, Teresa.
