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The Magic School Bus

12/1/2015

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This television show that first aired in the early 90's and was also the subject of multiple picture books, shows the almost ideal educational experience for most students. The show is based on one teacher's class and their many exciting field trips. Ms. Frizzle takes her students places that weren't actually possible when the show aired and some aren't even thought of as a possibility now. Whether they are traveling to the moon and back in just one school day or they are going inside another student's body to figure out why they are sick, the students in Ms. Frizzle's class are always learning something. All of these trips happen with the help of their handy magic school bus that can shrink, fly, or become a submarine.
These students are given an amazing opportunity to explore the world around them in a way that most students (and students in real life) can never experience. They are able to do this through the encouragement and somewhat insane ideas of their teacher as well as the fact that their parents don't always know about their crazy adventures.
These students are given this opportunity and with the help of their teacher and their magic bus, they are able to utilize it. This TV show relates to my inquiry in that it shows one way that a certain group of students experience school and the way that they take advantage of the amazing opportunities Ms. Frizzle presents them with. Even the one student who is reluctant to participate, Arnold, finds a way to learn and be amazed by the things he is taught.
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ABCs

11/21/2015

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Every child learns their ABCs, whether it be through a song or with pictures. When I was little my room was lined with alphabet cards. Each card had a letter and an animal that started with that letter on it. With these cards, going to sleep, waking up and playing in my room that I shared with my little sister involved looking at the alphabet. Even though I had already learned my ABCs in school, having the cards reinforced what I had learned and allowed my little sister to learn them before she did in school. When she went to kindergarten she already knew how to spell quetzal, the name of a small bird found in Guatemala that also happened to be the animal pictured on the "Q" card taped to our wall.
Whether it was on purpose or by accident, through putting those cards on our walls, our parents filled our days with learning. They enforced the learning of not only the alphabet but also the spelling of names of animals and what they looked like. Every night before I drifted off to sleep I read the cards and looked at the pictures, making sure that each picture and letter was ingrained in my brain before I closed my eyes. This was one of their first of many steps towards making sure that we were given every opportunity to learn and to expand our knowledge. From reading to us constantly to talking with us and having discussions with us, they encouraged us to learn new things everyday. My little sister went on to go through a phase of knowing every name of any dinosaur you could think of, my little brother, as his friends at school like to call him, is a "resident bird expert." With everything that my parents did they encouraged learning over meaningless activities. When I am asked what TV shows I watched as a child, I can name a few but it is easier for me to name my favorite climbing tree at my childhood home. For the most part my siblings and I played outside climbing trees and catching lizards, learning hands-on about the world around us. Whether or not it was because of those ABC cards on our walls, my sisters and I were brought up with a love of learning new things that is still strong in all of us today.
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"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian" by Sherman Alexie Part 2

11/9/2015

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In the second half of the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior begins to face even more discrimination on the reservation for his choice to leave for school. However the students and teachers at Reardan slowly start to accept him. Before he is really brought in as one of their own, Junior faces some issues. One of these issues is the teachers thinking he isn't smart just because of where he comes from. A particular incident was when his science teacher claimed petrified wood was wood, Junior knew that it was actually made of minerals that over time replace the actual wood but stay in the same shape. When he tried to tell the teacher this, he just wrote him off, but then when the so-called class genius said the same thing the Junior did, he was praised. "I remember when people used to think I was smart. I remember when people used to think my brain was useful" (pg. 86), having the teacher just be quick to assume that because of his skin-color or where comes from he isn't smart enough made Junior feel like he wasn't smart enough even though he was.
After the incident with the science teacher, Junior attempts to make friends with the class genius, Gordy. Through the help of his new friend, Gordy, Junior learns that while it is important to be a part of a community, he also has to figure out who he is without the community. This is exactly what being shunned by his tribe members from the reservation lets him discover.
Along with his hardships with his tribe and the lessening troubles at school, Junior is hit with  unexpected loss. First his grandmother, who he looked up to as a role model, gets hit by a drunk driver and dies in emergency surgery. Then his dad's best friend, who was like an uncle to him, is shot in the face after a bar brawl. Filled with grief, Junior misses a lot of school and when he eventually does come back, one of his teachers decides it's a good time to mock him for missing so much school. She says"... I didn't realize you still went to this school..." and when she does Gordy stands up and drops his textbook on the ground, every single other student in the class follows suit and they walk out. Through this, they show Junior that they love him, that they will have his back. That is more than his tribe on the reservation ever did. By stepping out of his comfort zone and challenging himself through going to a new school, he proved his worth, not just to others but to himself as well. He learns that "[t]he world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are a**holes and the people who are not" (pg. 176), he figured out that it doesn't matter what color your skin is, it matters if you are kind, and if you stick up for the people around you. 
Another big part of Junior's life, both at Reardan and back when he went to school on the reservation, is basketball. When he was going to school on the reservation, his former best friend, Rowdy, was always more aggressive and scored more points. However, when he got to Reardan and made the Varsity team, he became good because that was what was expected of him. He calls this "[t]he power of expectations" (pg. 180). His team, his coach, and himself expected more of him so he rose to those expectations. When it came down to playing the high school on his reservation, he was nervous, and scared but his coach knew he could do it. "Do you understand how amazing it is to hear [you can do it] from an adult? Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from anybody? It's one of the simplest sentences in the world, just four words, but they're the four hugest words in the world when they're put together" (pg. 189). Having someone believe in him was what he needed not only for winning that important game, but for succeeding in school and in life. By leaving the reservation, and actively searching for a better chance in life Junior found a community full of adults and students he could depend on and who wouldn't just look at him as a scrawny somewhat deformed kid, but as a young man who could one day make a difference, and "be remembered" (pg. 112).

Not many kids have the guts that Junior did when he decided to chase his chance at a better life, nor do they have the kind of support he did. He was lucky that his parents wanted him to succeed and wanted him to chase his dreams. The environment he was in at the high school on the reservation wasn't one where he would be able to thrive, not just because of the lack of funds the school had, but also because of the number of kids who picked on him. By transferring, he not only gave himself a better chance, he also gave himself a better learning environment where he was surrounded by people who believed in him.
I am extremely lucky and fortunate that my parents are able to provide me an amazing education, but most importantly that they believe I can accomplish my goals and succeed. Having a support system is very important and something that is hard to do well in school without for the majority of students.
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"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie

11/2/2015

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In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian a boy called Junior writes about his experience as a misfit on his reservation and how he decided to find hope rather than be forced to let go of his dream to go to college. In the beginning Junior explains that he has “water on the brain” because of this condition that he was born with, he suffers from physical abnormalities and years of seizures when he was younger. He says that due to his physical differences, like the large size of his head, he is teased mercilessly by not only the kids on the reservation but also by thirty year old male triplets who have nothing better to do with their lives than torture a fourteen year old boy.
When Junior starts high school he is extremely excited. He can’t wait to start learning and when his Geometry teacher hands him a tattered textbook he can’t help but want to kiss it. However when he looks inside and sees that his mother’s name is written on the inside cover, he gets mad. “My school and my tribe are so poor and sad that we have to study from the same dang books our parents studied from” (pg. 31), having the same book his mom had in high school thirty years before made him mad. So mad that he threw his book which hit his teacher in the face and broke his nose. Junior ended up being suspended, and during the time he was away from school his Geometry teacher came to his house to talk to him. He told Junior that he had to get out of the reservation because he was too smart to be stuck in a place without hope. The teacher told Junior “[t]he only thing you kids are being taught is how to give up” (pg. 42), he saw something in Junior and knew that if he stayed on the reservation his smarts would be wasted. Earlier on in the book Junior says “[my parents] dreamed about being something other than poor, but they never got the chance to be anything because nobody paid attention to their dreams” (pg. 11), now someone was noticing his dreams and he had a chance to follow them. Junior tells his parents that he wants to transfer schools, to a school in an all-white community with an Indian as their mascot. It wasn’t the most ideal situation as the school was 20 miles from home and he would be the only one of color there, however Junior explained that “dad is a drunk and mom is an ex-drunk, but they don’t want their kids to be drunks” (pg. 46), so they made it work.
By transferring schools Junior is not only chasing after hope, something he refers to as a mythical creature, but he is also setting himself for even more of a hostile relationship with the people on the reservation. Even though switching schools may be the best thing for his academic career and eventually the rest of his life, he ruins his friendship with his best friend. Junior knew this consequence but he also knew that if he didn’t get off the reservation for school, he never would.

This book relates to my inquiry because of Junior’s different experiences both growing up and in the two very different school environments he is learning in. He is able to recognize with the, help of his teacher, that where he is, and the opportunities that are offered to him aren’t going to be able to get him off the reservation so he can follow his dreams. Luckily his parents understand this and help him with his request to transfer schools. They want what’s best for him and they know he can’t get that on the reservation. There are risks in letting go of the world you know but Junior knew this and he was willing to take those risks to follow his dreams and not end up having his kids one day look into their textbooks and seeing their grandma’s name written in it.
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"In School-days" by John Greenleaf Whittier

10/26/2015

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< http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174755 >

In the poem "In School-days" by John Greenleaf Whittier, a man remembers his old school house and a certain memory that defined his idea of love. A few of the devices that Whittier uses in this poem are personification, imagery and metaphor. In the beginning of the poem in the line "And blackberry-vines are creeping," he uses both metaphor and personification. He uses personification in that the vines are "creeping" or crawling slowly, growing around the school house. This is also a metaphor because the vines could symbolize his memories of school that creep back into his mind and remind him of the days he spent in school, and in particular a girl that he knew. In the segment "Within, the master's desk is seen, deep scarred by raps official; The warping floor, the battered seats, the jack-knife's carved initial," Whittier uses imagery to express how worn down and old the school house is, as well as to show how it has been abused over the years since the narrator attended school there. Another area in which Whittier uses imagery is when he writes "The feet that, creeping slow to school, went storming out to playing!" Through using the word "creeping" again, Whittier reflects the movement of the blackberry-vines through the movement of the students on their way to school, the kids really don't want to go so they are walking almost as slowly as blackberry-vines grow. In contrast, when school is over, the kids go "storming out to play." In his use of words such as "creeping" and "storming" Whittier creates an image that is easy for the reader to picture and relate to.
Toward the end of the poem, the narrator introduces a little girl who unlike the rest of her classmates, isn' t running out of the school house and instead she is slowly leaving, with "eyes full of grieving." This imagery catches your attention, not only because it makes you wonder why a child is so sad, but also because of the distinction between how she left the school and how the rest of her classmates left the school. She seems to have a weight on her shoulders that she can't get off. The little girl is met by a little boy and the tension between them is obvious, neither one wants to say anything but they are both fidgeting and unsure of themselves. Then the little girl breaks the tension by "caressing" his face and "As if a fault confessing" tells him that she "hate[s] to go above [him]" and that she loves him. From this interaction, I thought that she is dying and that she is upset because she loves him and doesn't want to leave him.
The man recalling the memory, concludes that "he lives to learn, in life's hard school." By this Whittier is saying that life is a school in which everyone eventually graduates, or dies, but along the way we have to learn, or live. In this, Whittier uses a final metaphor, life is learning and going to heaven or dying is graduating.

This poem helped me further my research on my inquiry topic in that it showed a different kind of school experience. In this poem a little boy learns at a young age that life doesn't last forever. The memory of his friend telling him that she is going to die helped him remember his  old school house forever, but it also showed him that life is a school, and that living is learning and learning involves hardships such as losing someone close to you that you care about.

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                        The Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger: Part 3

10/18/2015

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In the next part of the book that I read, Holden decides to leave Pencey before he is actually set to leave. Since his parents don't know that he was kicked out of school, he decides to head to New York for a few days before he goes home. One part in particular that stood out to me was on his train ride from Pencey to New York, he sits next to a mother of a classmate of his. This mother seems to be completely oblivious to the fact that her son is, according to Holden, "the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey" (pg 61). Most mother's try to see the best in their children, to the point of almost overlooking the not so great behavior in some cases. As Holden said, "Mothers are all slightly insane" (pg 62), they believe that their children can do no wrong to the point where no one would be able to convince them otherwise even with solid evidence.
Through this interaction with his classmate's mom on the train, the readers are given an idea of what the parents of students at Pencey think about the school. This particular mother is convinced that her son is having the best time, and is doing amazingly well. He might be, but it makes you wonder if Holden's parents have the same idea of what life at Pencey is like, and Holden is obviously not doing so well there. 
Later on, Holden talks about his little sister, Phoebe. Every time he mentions her though, he says "old Phoebe." As he continues on to say that she is extremely smart, and was always listening and contributing to conversations between Holden and his brothers from the time she was really young, you come to see why it is that he says "old." She has an old soul, and acts older than her years.
This description of his sister, and his earlier description of his brother that died show that he loves his family a lot.
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                        The Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger part 2

10/13/2015

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In the next few chapters in the book, Holden gives the reader more of an idea of what is life at his boarding school, Pencey, was really like. Between the odd behavior of the boy in the room next door and the narcissism of his roommate, it seems as though Holden's dorm life was far from boring. At one point, Holden's roommate asks him to write his English paper for him because he has a date and won't have time to write it. This struck me as odd because Holden was flunking out of school, in all subjects, including English. However, then his roommate continues on to say that Holden can't "do it too good" because their English teacher thinks Holden is "a hot-shot in English." This made me think that maybe Holden does in fact have the potential to do well in school, but he chooses not to try. The essay he ends up writing for his roommate is about his younger brother's baseball mitt. His brother, Allie, had passed away from Leukemia a few years earlier, but Holden had kept his baseball mitt that was covered in poems that Allie had written on it. This story that Holden recounted showed some of the pain and suffering that Holden had been through up until this point in his life. It gives you more of an insight into maybe why he is the way he is.
At another point in the story, Holden talks about how he often horses around to keep himself from being bored. One time he is horsing around, tap-dancing in the bathroom while his roommate shaves, and he says "all I need's an audience." Does his need for an audience, need for attention, fuel his constant rebellion against the school system? Does his getting kicked out of multiple schools have anything to do with this need for attention? His statement of his need for an audience made me think that maybe he doesn't try because he gets attention from it. When he doesn't try, when he fails, he gets attention from teachers, fellow classmates, and maybe even his parents. His parents sent him away to boarding school and maybe he feels that the only way he can get their attention is by doing so horribly in school that they are forced to look for a new school that he can attend.
These few chapters also showed more of the school experiences that the other Pencey students might have had. His roommate is "Year Book handsome" going on dates with girls from schools near Pencey every weekend, while the boy next door hates everyone and everyone hates him. These are two very different experiences of school and Holden's is somewhere in between.  By showing more of the lives around Holden, the author helped show how different student's experiences can be even when they attend the same school.
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                                The Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger

10/4/2015

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In the book, The Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger, a boy named Holden Caulfield is struggling in school, however he seems to be doing so intentionally. In the first two chapters that I have read of the book, Holden explains that he has either flunked out of or "quit" multiple boarding schools in the past. He seems to not care what kind of effect that this behavior could have on his future. He finds the prestigious boarding schools that his parents send him to "full of phonies." He doesn't like the way that the teachers and administrators act around the parents, or the way some of the schools promise to "mold boys into splendid, clear-thinking young men." 
Towards the end of the first chapter, Holden is headed to his history teacher's house to say good-bye before he is sent home. His teacher, Mr. Spencer, seems to be upset with Holden's attitude towards school, and his education. At one point during the visit, Mr. Spencer asks Holden if he even cares, and if he realizes that flunking out of so many schools will damage his future. To these questions, Holden seems to be almost offended. It seems as though he doesn't want anybody's opinion on the matter, even if they are trying to help. He is focused on the present and has yet to start thinking about the future.
In some cases, kids that have this attitude towards school don't have a good support system of people who care about them and whether or not they succeed. This, however, may not be Holden's case. His parents have yet to make an appearance in the book, but they care enough to send him to good schools despite his track record. This could be for their own benefit, but it might be for his as well. Holden also has teachers like Mr. Spencer, who seem to care if he does well in school or not. Mr. Spencer was worried about him, and how his actions could seriously damage his future.
I have never had to struggle with not having people support me in school. I believe that the support of my parents and all of the amazing teachers that I have had over the years has really encouraged my to love learning, and helped me to succeed in school. Holden, in the book, doesn't love learning, he often finds things to be "boring," and hardly tries to find a way to make learning entertaining. This may be part of his problem, he is too focused on not caring and how "boring" learning is that he is letting the opportunities that he is presented with pass him by.
This book connects with my inquiry through Holden's unique experience with school. As I continue to read the book, I hope to figure out why it is that Holden has the attitude he does towards school, and what or who might have influenced his thinking.

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              Reflections on my learning experience - a personal story                                                                 by Meira van der Spa

9/28/2015

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In the essay by Meira van der Spa reflects on her schooling experiences and how she redefined her view on learning. Up until she was eight years old, Meira was home-schooled. She explains that her parents were both active in her learning process, and made sure that she understood the concepts they were teaching and didn't just memorize the facts. When she began to attend a public school, she discovered that the teachers there were less interested in having the students really learn a concept and were more focused on how well they could do on tests. She recalls a time when she asked her father a question about how objects look different underwater, and instead of just giving her an answer like a teacher at her school would, he left her experiment and discover it on her own. 

Meira says that in her school experience she found that she was almost forced to find something that she was good at and tell herself that the rest were things she was bad at. "... conventional education often leads us to base our perception of ourselves on our limitations, rather than on our possibilities," she found that after she let go of this perception, she was able to expand her interests and find out what she was really good at, and what she truly enjoyed doing.

This is something that I struggle with, along with many other people my age. The pressure to decide what we are good at based on only twelve years of school and hardly any time spent actually trying to discover what we are good at and enjoy is huge. Having a learning experience like the one Meira's parents gave her, where you are encouraged to not just accept what you are told, but actually figure it out on your own, is one that every child should have access to. 

This reflection essay relates to my topic in that it explains one experience of school, and how it affected the person's future. Meira decided not to let her schooling experience define her, and she chose to become her own teacher, and her own motivator because her teachers weren't enough. She was able to "... reject the idea that [she was] limited," and pursue what she really wanted to pursue. 

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Inquiry Project Proposal

9/9/2015

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Topic of Inquiry:  Youth experiences of schooling.

Guiding Question: What are the different educational experiences of youth? How do these educational experiences shape their childhood?

Rationale: The experiences that kids have in elementary, and middle school help mold them into the people they will eventually become. I am interested in learning more about the different affects these experiences can have on a wide range of kids, and how these experiences change the way they view their childhood.

Summary: My experience of school is one I look at fondly. I have always enjoyed learning, and being in a learning environment. I personally have never experienced a lack of necessities in the classroom, or bullying on the playground, and I want to learn more about how these experiences affect the kids that go through them. 

Prediction: I hope to have a better understanding of how kids' experiences in school affect their childhood, and their learning experiences.

Book Ideas Titles and Authors:
1. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Novel)
2. Blubber by Judy Blume (Novel)
3. Listening to Young People in School, Youth Work and Counseling by Nick Luxmoore (Nonfiction)
4. Call Me Hope by Gretchen Olson (Novel) 
5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indain by Sherman Alexie (Novel)

Discussion:  A child's experience in school can range from one that is without hardship to one filled with constant difficulties. These difficulties range from bullying, and a lack of necessities, to family troubles that put pressure on the child both in and out of school. The way these kids deal with their childhood struggles shapes their future, and how they will look back on their childhood as an adult.

Other Sources: Another source that I will be looking at is the documentary Waiting for 'Superman'. This Documentary explores the effect that our current public schools have on children. The film focuses on the specific experiences of five children who have a desire to learn. 
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