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Analytic Paper. A Moment Of Silence: A Silent Period Taken

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Analytic Paper A moment of silence: a silent period taken for contemplation, prayer, or reflections. This phrase is often used as a gesture of respect when mourning the loss of someone. For most people this ritual is seldomly used. However, this phrase is all too familiar to the students of Harper High School located in Chicago, Illinois. Teens in this area are exposed to a life of gangs, violence, and murders. The social location of these students is immensely different for most high school students making their norms look like mores compared to most of society. In 2012, 29 current and recent students of this high school were shot, which is unimaginable for a large majority of the American population. A two part podcast created by, This…show more content…
Principal Sanders calls the seniors, her babies. She uses this term frequently throughout the podcast. This could be seen as a folkway, principals do not typically call their students their “babies”. However, the students love it. It makes them feel loved and that she is like a mother figure to them. An article titled, “Symbolic Interactions and the Development of Women Leaders in Higher Education”, written by Andrea Gallent, Gallent comes to the conclusion that for a woman to be a good leader in education, she needs to unitize soft skills (Gallent 2014: 213). These soft skills include nurturing, communicators, and relationship focused. This is why principal Sanders is such an inspiring leader at Harper High School. She uses the soft skills to instill trust within the student body. She and the faulty strategically uses language like this to create a loving and safe environment, something that these students often do not experience. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that language determines our consciousness (Henslin 2016:46). In other words, language shapes one’s reality. Crystal Smith is a dearly loved counselor who works in the Social Work Office. She is known for spreading words of encouragement. She is constantly telling her students, “I 'm so proud of you. I see you trying hard” and “Let me appreciate you in advance”(Glass, Ira. 2013). This is such a powerful statement that she uses. She is telling her students that she knows their
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