Mrs. Kalani's Reflection: Valley High School

Amy Caesar’s lecture advocates for constructionist education as she believes the new era of 21st-century learning entailing creativity exists now. Specifically, she supports the alternative education system and outlines the various forces that have attempted to hinder the actualization of DL learning such as the teachers union and the ministry of education. Overall, Caesar spotlights the importance of utilizing knowledge in a manner that is applicable and flexible to all members of society.

one-one hundredth of a point away to being the valedictorian. What Talbot does with her

Talbot uses an actual event where the process of choosing a valedictorian was extremely stressful for the students. Talbot introduces her claim with the incident of Sarasota High School to display to the readers how students will go by any means to receive valedictorian. As a result of complaints of many parents, who have high expectations of their children, teachers began to feel entitled to awarding the achievement

The Salutatorian Addresses, given by Emily Nortnik, Shelbi Ledesma, and Hannah Branson, took the class of 2017 back through the last 13 years of their lives. There were good times and there were challenges, but together they faced life’s ups and downs while unknowingly making cherishable memories. Valedictorians, Lily Lockhart and Elizabeth Ward, graduated with GPAs above 4.3.

Valedictorian is a huge honor and Talbot transmits this through her interviews like when she goes to Principal Kennedy of Saratoga High

In order to credibly appeal to the audience, Talbot interviews multiple officials such as “the principal of Sarasota High” (223) and a “Stanford education professor” (226); she provides multiple educated views on the valedictorian issue noticed in her writing. When the author mentions the interviewed authorities who are well educated and highly statured, a more credible argument is seen, and the audience believes her more because of all of the authoritative people who have personally experienced valedictorian issues and can confidently come to a conclusion on whether or not they are beneficial. Additionally, Talbot interviews students along with experts to defend her message that the valedictorian issue causes much more harm than benefits. She states that she recently interviewed “some students” who were “involved” in valedictorian issues (227). Then, she cites “two professors” and interviews a mother of a student at Sarasota High School to gain many perspectives on the topic (230, 231).

Your Honor, Sir. Breana’s proudest moment as a person is when she obtained an honor roll certificate last year. She had a hard time with understanding the teacher, but she slowly and gradually grasped the concept. Her hard work paid off as she got all A’s and B’s. Breana’s strenuous time with her school’s curriculum made her feel very angered, but she pushed herself to the limits and ended up having the joy of spectacular

One way in which Talbot expresses her idea of how only one valedictorian should be chosen within a high school every year is through her use of ethos. Credibility is extremely important as an author; thus, one must use information and people who are relevant to the topic that they are discussing, which is exactly what Talbot does. When discussing the struggles that students have to endure when aiming to receive the title of valedictorian, Talbot interviews three former students from Sarasota High School in Florida: Daniel Kennedy, Kylie Barker, and Kimberly Belcher; they all recollected the competition between students at the school, including some factors that they considered unjust, such as using a “sneaky way of gaming the system” by taking easier classes for a higher GPA (223-224). The fact that Talbot utilizes the interviews of multiple students shows that she was thorough in her

“Next up, Congratulations to Matthew Collier!”... it is time. The moment you have been waiting for three years now, or what felt like and eternity. The crowd is clapping for you as you get up from you seat and walk up to the principal wearing your gown from head to toe. You can see you parents in the crowd have tears roll down their eyes in happiness. As you grab your diploma, you think to yourself how fast middle school went. You have flashbacks from when you have just entered this school in 6th grade and thought to yourself that you have plenty of time in middle school and there is no need to rush. However, now that you are finishing up your last day of 8th grade and heading off to high school, you want to leave a legacy which your teachers

Medomak Valley High School, located in Waldoboro, ME, is the only high school in Maine School Administrative District #40 and serves students from Friendship, Waldoboro, Warren, Washington, and Union in midcoast Maine. For decades, the school district had two middle schools - A.D. Gray Middle School, which served students from Friendship and Waldoboro, and D.R. Gaul Middle School, which served students from Warren, Washington, and Union. In the fall of 2008, the year I started at Medomak Valley High School, the district opened Medomak Middle School to serve all seventh and eighth grade students in the district and closed A.D. Gray Middle School and D.R. Gaul Middle School. The new middle school was built at the Medomak Valley High

It was the last day of school where we got our report cards and it stated what our 6th grade classroom would be. I was a very weak student and I ended up in a place that wasn’t my best. People have made so many comments and put so many labels, but I pushed myself to change. Ever since this moment I have worked hard to make a change. I’ve had put so much pressure on myself and now I have the honor of being the one to stand here, in front of all of you as your Valedictorian.

For almost two centuries, the system of public education has honored the best and the brightest high school graduates with the honorable titles of valedictorian and salutatorian.Though these titles have been a valued part of graduation for what seem like the entire history of American public schooling, they are under heavy scrutiny as impassioned and angry parents, as well as their hardworking students, attack the idea of only recognizing one or two of the class’s most talented seniors. In “Best in Class”, reporter Margaret Talbot challenges the traditional system of choosing a single valedictorian by by exposing the emotional opposition to the system’s change or preservation; her use of emotional dialogue as well as far less emotional, far more objective writing style allows Talbot to emphasize specific ideas and opinions with syntax to avoid confrontation, while simultaneously establishing that it is time for the traditional system of valedictory to change.

Pride had also entered into her character as she explained her smiling soreness, as she "had taken to smiling more often and [her] jaws hurt from the unaccustomed activity;" (835). "As a member of the winning team (the graduating class of 1940)" (835) she was moving headfirst toward the future. It was obvious that she was delighted that she had accumulated a plethora of achievements displayed with colored stars on the bulletin board. Even though Henry Reed had been awarded valedictorian, "instead of being disappointed [she] was pleased that [they] shared top honors" (836). A sense of approval flowed though her and she was genuinely and deservedly happy; "she was headed for the freedom of open fields" (835).

Graduation is an exciting time in a person’s life, especially a high school graduation. When I think of family and friends gathering together to celebrate a joyous occasion, I feel I accomplished my strongest goal. It never occurred to me that graduation would be the end of my youth and the start of adulthood. Graduating from high school was an influential event that gave me an altered outlook on my existence. Life before graduation, preparing for graduation day, and commencement day overwhelmed me for reality.

Stepping upon a simple stage was the best thing I could have ever done. Overseeing the multitude that was there to witness my every word, every tremble, every emotion, and every heart beat, was then that I realized that the sentiment was real. It was essentially the end of time and I could not bear to hold back what I no intentions of doing. Cry. Tears of joy darted down my face as I walked across the stage and received my ultimate gift. With fancy inscription, my gift was entitled “Class of 2009”. I had just graduated.