Thesis Statements

Montessori learning environment
*A structured well organized Montessori learning environment can be a great way to help all students excel to their full potential.

Extra-Curricular
*Extra-Curricular activities help students with self-confidence in and out of the classroom and give them a sense of belonging that will reflect positively in the classroom.

Year Round Schooling
*Year round schooling is a great alternative to the classic school year schedule and can help with student burn out and the information that is lost over long summer breaks.

Three Topics

Montessori learning environment
o I would argue that when a Montessori learning environment is used correctly it can be a great way to give each student a personalized lesson plan.
o I feel that this would be a great topic for me because I have worked closely with a Montessori program and have personally seen the positive results that can come.

Extra-Curricular activities are an important part of an educational atmosphere
o I would argue that although students are not directly learning anything while participating in extra-curricular activities they do help them with self-confidence and help them feel welcomed and a part of the school system which overall helps their motivation in the classroom.
o I feel that this would be a great topic for me because I was very involved in extra-curricular activities while in high school and have personally witnessed the side effects students feel. I also had many friends that were not involved at all and often had conversations about why they were not involved and their feelings of not really being a part of the school.

Year-Round schooling is a wonderful idea
o I would argue that year round schooling is a great alternative to the classic school calendar year and would help with student burn out and help stop the problem of all the information that students lose over the 3 month summer break.
o This topic would be good for me because it is something that I am eager to do more research on and don’t necessarily hold to strong of a view yet for either side.

Fulkerson's Article

Fulkerson's article was another great thing to read to kind of help ease my worries about the paper. I'm starting to understand that if I pick the right topic, which would be something i'm interested in but not something that I yet hold a strong view or side on, the paper won't be so terrible to write and I'll even start to enjoy it! Ha, if that's possible!

Reading the article was also a nice little refresher on some of the common mistakes people make when writing papers. This will help me keep those mistakes consciously in my mind and hopefully not make them!

Possible Research Topics

The importance of making a long term health care center feel like home to its residents.

---- I feel that this is a very important topic that many people give little thought to. I’ve worked at a long term care facility for approximately three years now and feel I truly understand the importance. A large majority of the residents have been living at Greencroft, my place of employment, for ten plus years. Even though Greencroft needs to be run very similar to a hospital it is important that they are not left to feel like they are just patients at a medical facility but residents receiving care in their home.

What reforms need to be made to the Indiana education program to accomadate gifted students along with students with LD?

---- Unfortunately in the kindergarten to twelve grade education system Indiana is lagging behind most states. With such a large amount of under-educated students with learning disabilities many “average” classes have become simplified to accommodate them. This of course drops the academic level for the actual “average” students. In effect the “average” students are having to be placed in the “advanced” classes to be academically pushed while at the same time slowing down the pace for the truly “advanced” gifted students. How can we make our school systems accommodate them all?

What are the perks to a structured montessori learning enviroment?

----I was personally involved with a Montessori math program sixth to twelve grade at my school. In effect I went from being a little below average standardized math tester to well above average. It allowed me to move quickly through concepts that were easy for me to grasp while slowing down for the ones that did not come as easy for me. In the end I felt that I had a confident understanding and knowledge for all math concepts.

What is the importance of extra-curricular activities in school enviroments for the emotional and academic advancement of students?

----All through school I was very involved with a wide range of extra-curricular activities. I was President of the student body, in choir and involved in sports. And now I am a cheerleading coach for the high school and middle school I attended. I am a firm believer that when a child is involved with activities at their school it does more then just keep them off the streets. In any situation in life the more you feel involved and welcomed into the group you will try harder, be more confident and be more eager to attend. I believe this is true with student involved in extra-curricular activities at their school.

What are the advantages of year-round schooling?

----A large part of my family lives in Tennessee where year-round schooling is practiced. Some of my cousins lived up here in Northern Indiana attending a typical traditional school schedule and then moved there. They loved the year round schooling!! They found it so much easier to retain information instead of using the first month or so of school reviewing all the information you’ve lost from the year before.

Reforms that need to be made to the finicial aide programs.

----I come from a rather poor family. But according to Government we pack just about 1,000 to much a year for me to qualify for much aide. How is this possible? I think the FAFSA program needs to be re-evaluated.

Global Warming

I found this site very interesting and spent quite a lot of time on it. I liked clicking on every box to see all the different effects global warming is having. I thought it interesting to see that Global Warming isn’t just melting ice bergs and raising sea levels but also effecting animals and many other aspects of life.

As with many big issues that need to be faced people in power often try to belittle the issue. I’m sure their hopes are for easily gullible people to just believe what they say and think there is no problems and they have got everything under control but it’s important for you to do your own research and come to your own decision on the matter.

Before visiting this website I believed that Global Warming was an issue so it didn’t exactly convince me of the issue but I do think it’s a great reliable site. The fact that they give links to other credible sites helps me feel comfortable in believing they put time and effort into finding the truth.

Critical Reading... is it important?

Critical reading is very important. Critically reading anything allows you to thoroughly understand exactly what the author is saying and the point they are trying to get across. It allows you to get the most out of what you read. By critically reading articles you can also find out how credible their work is. You can find out what qualifies them to be writing on this subject, how much time they put into researching the topic they are writing about and what their main goal is in writing the article.

You of course can not just believe anything that anyone says. If so I could sit here and write an article about how diesel fuels were killing off the world’s population of panda bears. Although I’m sure I could make up a very convincing story why would you believe what I say?!? I’ve never even seen a panda bear and never put anytime researching the topic at all.

And of course it is a wonderful idea to have your own opinions but before you state your opinion it is also a smart idea to do some critical reading on the subject. Know why you have your opinion and be able to back up your claim with reliable facts.

Comparable Issues

I feel one issue that is comparable with Carson’s pesticide topic is forestry/logging. I feel this is an issue that we have all heard mentioned as a problem but I doubt many of us have ever really gave it much thought since it doesn’t really effect us here in northern Indiana very much. Here’s a link to Wikipedia discussing logging, there is a great section on the effects it has on the environment. I found it very interesting! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logging

Rachel Carson's Article

More then anything I found Rachel Carson’s article inspiring. Anytime in life that you need to get a lot of information across to get your point made it can very difficult to keep the reader interested and to get them to actually comprehend what they are reading. I feel the reason Carson had such an effect on the subject is because she did just that with ease.

Carson proves that it is possible to write an informative, captivating paper and get the results you want. Hopefully I can be even half as successful as Carson was.

Stuart Greene's Article

I don’t feel that I necessarily learned any new information from Stuart Greene’s article. However, I did feel like it was a great little refresher on how to form an argumentative paper.

Reading the article reminded me how important it is to pay attention to the counter-arguments that are out there. Just because you don’t address other view points and opinions doesn’t mean your readers won’t.

The part of the article on framing is what I found most educational. Although I have worked with this concept before in other classes I’ve never worked to in depth with the idea. I feel if used correctly framing can be a strong and effective way to write a strong argumentative paper.

Biographical Sketch

Hello, my name is Holly Siler. I’m an Elementary Education major and I’m also interested in getting my certificate to be able to teach Social Studies in the Middle School environment. Hopefully someday I’ll either be teaching upper elementary, 4th or 5th graders, or working at a middle school trying to get kids interested in History.

I’m a sophomore here at IPFW and just recently turned twenty. Last year I lived on campus at student housing, but this year I’m living back at home in my hometown of Goshen, which is about an hour north-west of Fort Wayne. This will be my second semester that is completely online and I’m really enjoying it.

Back in my hometown I work full-time at a retirement community called Greencroft. I get the fun job of working with insurance claims and keeping all the paperwork up to the state’s standards. I really enjoy my job mostly because of all the interaction I get with the elderly residents. I find them all so interesting with their own life stories and adventures!

I also coach cheerleading for Goshen Middle School. I enjoy this so much because I get to work with the age of girls that I hope to someday be teaching. It’s such an interesting age when they’re starting to have real-life problems and learning how to deal. It’s great to be able to help them through the problems I’ve had to go through and be a role-model.