Graduation Speech : Education System

Throughout my life, I feel as though I have had many encounters with special education. Growing up, my grandmothers close friend had a daughter that had down syndrome. She was extremely sweet and loved company. Her parents had six other children who were grown and lived on their own. However, she lived at home with her parents her whole life. In elementary school, I do not remember many encounters with special education students. I do remember some kids being taken out of my class for part of the day, but that was my only experience during that time.

A higher education has been an important priority in my life. While I realized a high school education was important, my parents expected more. They said if I wanted to succeed in life, a college education was something that I could not live without. What they don’t tell you is how exhausting and confusing the process is to get even into.

Why are schools not preparing students for college, for the real world, or how be successful in the work force? Many Americans ask this question and do not understand that Career and Technical Education (CTE), once called Vocational Education, do exactly that (Estacion, Deluca, Plank 346). They believe that all that schools teach are how to write, solve math problems, use the scientific method, and absorb the information discussed in history courses. Career and Technical Education uses experimental learning that gives students skills and motivation to graduate high school and be successful afterwards. Experimental learning is a concept that uses practical thinking and activities to grasp contexts and make learning information and skills easier (Fletcher and Hernadez-Gantes par. 3). Career and Technical Education give students opportunities to better themselves, and stay in school to create success in all aspects of their lives.

Usually high school students meet with the counselor and follow a determined set of coursework in order to graduate high school. However, if a student has been identified as a special needs student, the process of signing up for classes is not as simple as for other students. When trying to earn a high school diploma, special education students encounter difficulties not faced by their peers. The first step is for parents, school staff, and the student to meet and determine the best option for the student in order to receive a diploma. Determining the student’s path is called an IEP, individualized education plan. All special education students have an IEP that identifies the courses they will take in high school and the plans they will pursue after graduation. Students may choose from four paths: the traditional pathway, the career pathway, the occupational pathway, or the certificate of completion. The traditional pathway, which most advisors put the student on at first, allows the student the option of going to college. The next is the career pathway, which does not require a student to have an eligibility ruling for special education but still is another option if the student cannot obtain a high school diploma through the traditional path. Third, occupational pathway is a way to receive a diploma and not have to achieve as many credits or pass state test, but is still a difficult process. The last option for special education students is certificate of completion.

Hello Ms. Bahorich, I am a current student at the University of Texas at Arlington and I want to start off by congratulating you for being the chairperson of the Texas board of education. Personally, I admire you for spending your time to make sure students that attend a public school district in Texas get the best education possible. I believe that your job is more than just leading meetings over the Texas education system, giving ideas on how to improve the education system, or make sure that school districts are regulated according to standards. Your job goes beyond that; the future of Texas students is in your hands. I also admire you for homeschooling your children; I don’t believe this is an act of hostility towards the Texas education system, but rather that you wanted to provide your children the best education possible. I want that type of education to be available to all Texas students. Texas education has greatly improved since the beginning of it, and although we recently have passed laws to reach racial equally, I still believe that there is an issue in the Texas education system. The issue present in the Texas Education System is the bad funding of public school districts. The way public school districts are funded in the state of Texas gives a disadvantage to students that attend a school district located in a low income neighborhood over those who attend a school districts located in a rich neighborhood.

As result of creating and implementing this artifact, I realized that the most effective lesson plans are those which initiate with the final assessment in mind. So, I applied a pre-test at the very beginning of my lessons with every different group I would be teaching to measure a starting point or the amount of pre-existing knowledge on the topics to be taught. Based on this, I planned the instruction to deliver and how to differentiate it.

Good Morning. Hope your Friday 2/10/2017 finds you well today. So Terry, I believe it almost 3 weeks casting and I try sending to the web week ago, I sent a letter in answer for Hope and Naomi. Even fought whether send the letter to find someone would respond probably and because no one got back to me could you please answer... Then when we got home last night 2/10/17from practice Naomi asking again did someone call, did we receive message it would ok that no call ,if no every said that everyone would receive word. No tears, this week like last week or; they said would call everyone, and even If they did not get in. Hope Elizabeth has slightly autism so she’d believed people when they have said something is going to happen like calling, they

Students enrolled in special education programs are generally defined as passive learners. Many students in the special education program transfer their passive classroom learning into their knowledge of their Individualized Education Program (IEP) and rarely demonstrate self-determination skills. Few students attend their IEP meeting and fewer students know their IEP goals and goal areas. Thus, the students in the special education setting display a lack of involvement and participation in their IEP, including the accommodations and modifications available to help them succeed. This researcher has found that most of the students in the special education program at a rural northwest Iowa high school where she teaches are not actively involved in their own IEP process. Also, the students do not understand why they are in the special education program; therefore, they do not attend IEP meetings and are not active participants in goal setting and transition planning.

The public education system has been in place for enough time to know the many goals it has for students. Horace Mann allowed his sole purpose to present equal opportunity to students so they can experience wealth. The idea that if a person attends public school they will have the equal opportunity to be wealthy and have any career they wish. However, “equality does not mean that everyone will have equal incomes and equal status” (Spring, 2013, p. 66).

Throughout my entire life, I had always been taught to stay quiet and listen to everyone around me. Now, it is my turn to tell everyone what it is that I have learned during that time. Since I grew up with a Mexican family it was hard to attend school and transition from knowing my native Spanish tongue to English. I spent most of my time in an English school environment until I got to high school. In high school, I realized how important it was to embrace my native tongue. Not everyone does that, especially during high school, thus influencing my decision to go to college and major in Spanish. My plan is to graduate college, receive a teaching credential to teach high school students not only how to learn the language or improve on it but

In the commencement speech entitled “This is Water,” the speaker came to highlight to the graduates at the commencement ceremony, what the “real world “was like because he thought they are not alert enough to know. He made reference to this through the anecdote at the beginning where the two young fish didn’t know what water was and of course water is life to fishes. Therefore, the speaker found it necessary to tell what life was really about through a commencement speech because of his opinion that they may have limited knowledge concerning it. In paragraph 6 of his speech, he states “The plain fact is that you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what ‘day in, day out’ really means. There happen to be whole large part of adult

I’ve faced a lot of obstacles in school. But the two major obstacles that seem to always stand out to me was not having teachers who really cared about their students and how each school district has different curriculum. Falling behind and not knowing the curriculum wasn’t a good thing and it led up to some serious consequences for me. In order for me to overcome these obstacles I had to set some goals. Which were attend tutorials and play catch up with my academics.

By taking the first step and acquiring a college education I am beginning the next necessary phase towards a rewarding future. This process is indispensable in providing a means to a lucrative future for me, or anybody for that matter, who is determined to stay focused and complete the work required. By choosing to continue on to four year degree, my college education will provide me with many opportunities and clear the path towards financial security, independence and self satisfaction upon completion. I am experiencing a greater understanding about my marketable skills while I assemble a noteworthy resume. Because of the experiences I have received in college so far, I have gained a competitive advantage in the labor market. Do to the assorted experiences, classes and instructors I have had the opportunity to interacted with in college, I am prepared to work in any environment whether it is customer service in a credit union, to bartending, as well as training staff for a restaurant while I finish up my education. My college years, so far, has provided me a unique opportunity to engage in areas which I would never entertained an interest in before. At present, a college education is paramount to procuring a position in many industries. I have noticed, in many instances, a degree from college is a minimum requirement for most employment opportunities.

Growing up, all I ever heard was the word college. From the old days of kinder garden and especially up until senior year of high school my entire life revolved around what college I wanted to go to. I believe that most people see a college education as a luxury, a grand accomplishment. There’s many different type of colleges to go to; community college, state universities, and so on. For me, the biggest thing is not where I go to college. For me, the biggest thing is simply to finish my college education and be able to walk across a stage and receive my diploma. A college education is valuable to me because it will help me in life. I will benefit from a college education career-wise, financially, and personally.

As a group we decided to include a “College Success” course for freshman within out First Year Experience. Instead of making the course required, we would prefer to make the class optional and offered for 2 credits. The class would be for 50 minutes per day and either Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday and available both spring and fall semesters for first-year students at High Point University. The course would be recommended to all freshman for the fall semester in order to assist in the transition to college life, but would be offered spring semester as well for students who struggled first semester with becoming acclimated to the university.