Plagiarism

                Plagiarism is not a thing to be taken lightly.  This one word could be the end of your academic future and success.  Cheating is another form of plagiarism, but plagiarism sounds worse.  I have dealt with two cases of a student plagiarizing in my academic career.  I was not the student who did that thankfully. 
                Of course there a lot more incidents of plagiarism, but no one ever got caught or the teacher just didn’t notice or care.  The first time that a student got in serious trouble was when I was in 10^th grade language arts class.  We were doing a research paper on the subject of a book of our choosing.  It was about a five page research paper with sited sources and the whole shebang. One student was so lazy that they bought their essay of the internet and turned it in.  The teacher noticed how advanced the writing was and ended up finding that same essay online.  It was a terrible incident!  The teacher then though every plagiarized and she typed everyone’s essay into a plagiarism search engine and found a few more people who had just copied and pasted stuff.  She accused half of the students of plagiarizing and she brought in administration.  That essay was graded out of 200 so that the people who plagiarized got a zero on that and failed her class.  That just goes to show that plagiarism is not taken lightly. 
                Another incident was this year in my AP Chemistry class and we were working on lab reports in partners.  One student was accused of plagiarism because he had the same exact thing as his partner.  It was really stupid because everyone worked in pairs and should then technically have the same exact thing, but the teacher was determined that student had plagiarized.  Both students got in trouble for no reason because the evidence she found was inaccurate.  Administration was contacted and one student was going to get suspended.  The student was tired of putting up with the false accusations so he stopped showing up to class and filled out a drop form.  That teacher was way out of hand and the student for sure didn’t plagiarize because every partner in a group should have the same answer.  That student was a senior and it would have been recorded in his school records, but thankfully him and his parents fought back and showed that the teacher was wrong.
                Plagiarism is a strong word and unless a person knows for sure if someone has done it, they should not use that word so freely.  Plagiarism and copying someone else’s work is still a major problem in schools and even in work environments.  This article discusses exactly what plagiarism is and how it is handled on different levels.

Written Spanish in Class

            It is a very good idea to take a foreign language in high school because a lot of colleges require a minimum of two years of foreign language to even get into the program you want.  It not only will help you in college, but you will also benefit from that knowledge in life.  If there was a Spanish speaking person who needed help and no one knew Spanish, you could be that one person that could possibly translate or help that Spanish speaking person.  It also helps in your career because people are becoming more diverse and global so there are many needed people for jobs that would involve working with another language. 
            While learning a new language is never easy, teachers expect you to understand what is being taught.  The first day I walked into Spanish class the teacher was speaking Spanish the whole time.  I thought my life was over and that I would never be able to understand.  I am now in my third year of Spanish and can understand and create my own Spanish sentences. 
             In Spanish there is normally a reading test, a written test, a multiple choice test, and an oral test.  All of these tests are important, but can be really stressful.  I recently had to do a written test and for that I had to write a five paragraph essay about my family in Spanish!  It's hard enough to do that in English, but Spanish made it even harder.  It took me two and a half hours to accomplish that and it was a relief to finally get it done.  If you would like to see that and find out more about me here is my Spanish document.  Warning, it is in Spanish.
            Me llamo Nicole Barrett y yo tengo dieciséis años.  Yo nací en el hospital St. Lukes en Cedar Rapids Iowa.  Mi cumpleaños es el veintiocho de Agosto.  Yo soy Irlandés, Alemán, Holandés, y Inglés.  Yo he vivido en Anamosa y Palo.  Yo había vivido en Anamosa por cuatro años entonces yo había vivido en Palo por ocho años.  Yo vivo en Cedar Rapids ahora y yo tengo una casa del lago en Montezuma Iowa.  
           Yo tengo tres hermanos y una hermana.  Sus nombres son Cara, Ben, Sean, y Nathan.  Mi hermana tiene dos hijos y mi hermano Ben tiene dos hijos.  Yo tengo tres sobrinas y un sobrino.  Yo amo a mis hermanos.  Cuando yo era niña nosotros jugamos los partidos y nos divertimos.  Mis hermanos jugaron el fútbol Americano en la escuela y ellos son atléticos.  Mi hermano Ben toca la guitarra y es muy talento.  Mis hermanos son todos mayores que yo y ellos no viven conmigo.  En los fines de semana nosotros vamos al lago y nosotros pasamos el rato.  
           Mi familia le encanta el lago y nosotros vamos allí todo el tiempo.  Mis padres tienen una casa del lago en el Lago Ponderosa y mis abuelos tienen una casa del lago en el Lago Thunderhead.  Mis abuelos tenían una casa del lago en el Lago de Ozarks.  En el lago nosotros vamos a pescar, pasear en bote, y caza.  Nosotros nos gusta al aire libre.  Cada año nosotros tenemos una reunión familiar en mi casa del lago y nosotros nos divertimos con nuestra familia grande.  Nosotros vemos los fuegos artificiales y tenemos fogatas grandes.  Para mí, el lago es una escapada de la vida.  
            Mis padres son muy viejos.  Mi madre tiene cincuenta y dos años and mi padre tiene cincuenta y cinco años.  Mi padre se llama Kenny y mi madre se llama Lynn.  Mis padres van a México mucho y a veces yo voy con ellos.  Nosotros nos gustan la playa y el océano en México.  En la playa nosotros encontramos los caracoles y nosotros tomamos el sol.  En la noche nosotros vemos la puesta del sol y pasamos un rato con los amigos.  Nosotros aprendimos el español por México y hablamos con las personas de México.
            Yo amo a mi familia porque nos divertimos.  Todas personas en mi familia le gustan la música porque todos hemos jugado un instrumento en la banda.  Mi madre y yo nos gusta jugar al golf, pero mi padre no le gusta el golf.  Mi familia le gustan los animales.  Yo tengo cuatro mascotas.  Yo tengo dos perros y dos gatos.  Yo amo a mis mascotas porque ellos son parte de mi familia.  En mi familia nosotros tenemos muchas personas y muchas mascotas.
            Did you enjoy translating that? Well I sure didn't.  I highly recommend that you learn a language that interests you because otherwise the information will be harder to learn.  Spanish is not just in Mexico and if you thought that then you must live under a rock.  Spanish comes from all different places and there are so many different forms of it.  If you would like to learn Spanish please leave a comment or check out this link.  Have fun and connect with different people by speaking another language.

Teachers Teaching?

What method of teaching works best for you

Choose Classes?

In my school I have the option to choose possible classes for next year.  While I may be limited on my options and have some classes that are required, it is still nice to be able to choose electives and the level of class that I will do in the future.  Some people abuse this right though and don't do what classes are best for them.  Choosing classes is a privilege and has to be earned through your school years. 

What Are You Doing With Your Life?

It seems like all people want to know is what you are doing with your life.

Early Schedule

                If it is easy for you to get up in the morning then you are lucky.  It seems like a lot of teenagers have trouble waking up early to go to school, or at least it is for me.  What should be the start time for school?  While many people have different opinions over this subject, many don’t consider the functionality of the teenager that has to wake up early to go to school.  I personally feel like a zombie when I have to go to school at seven in the morning.  What is the purpose of a student going to school so early in the morning if they can’t function properly enough to learn anything?

                It was recently decided in my school district that classes will now start at 6:45 in the morning and get done around 2:55 in the afternoon.  That seems like a lot of school time right?  Due to snow days we had to add time to our school day to make up the lost time.  It was already hard enough getting to class at seven but now we have to go in fifteen minutes earlier?!  Instead of being like a zombie, my functionality would be like a dead person.  There is a little exaggeration there obviously, but teenager’s brains aren’t even fully awake or functional until around ten in the morning.  This article explains teenager’s brains and sleep. 

                Along with getting up earlier to go to school, a student would then get home later and if that student is involved in extracurricular activities; they would be going to sleep later due to a later practice time.  It seems like there just isn’t enough time in a student’s day to sleep and do everything else.

                While this earlier start time may not seem like a big deal, it will impact a lot of students and their learning.  I expect to see more tardies in the morning because people can’t or won’t get out of bed that early in the morning.  While I am only thinking about the students because I am a student, a person would have to think about the teachers as well.  They would still have to get up as early if not earlier than the student’s.  A sleep deprived teacher is not a good thing and therefore we should consider starting school later in the day to make sure everyone gets enough sleep.

Wicked High five

                It might be hard to imagine, but there are some wicked people in high school.  Actually it is not that hard to imagine, teenagers are just strange creatures that can do terrible things to others.  Other ages do the same thing, but it is extremely prominent in high school.

                A recent incident occurred at my high school and has shown me how mean students can be to each other.  Have you heard of the wicked high five? Well you are about to learn what it’s about.  High fives are normally a celebratory gesture or even just a casual hello.  They can get wicked though and not in a good way. 

                This high five consists of a student or several students giving random high fives to people they see in the hallway.  Seems normal, but it isn’t.  I am leaving out one crucial detail.  These students have tacks in their hands pointing out so it would prick the person they are giving a high five to.  It may seem like a joke, but it’s all fun and games until someone gets their hand sliced open.  That is what happened at my school.  A certain individual though it would be funny to do that to another student that they were passing by in the hallway (they didn’t even know the student).  When all of a sudden blood is pouring out of the victims hand onto the floor of the foyer.  Seems gruesome and cruel.  Why would someone want to cause pain to another person?  Some people can just be so wicked.  Are you wondering what happened to the victim?  He or she had to go to the hospital and get stitches.  No severe nerve damage, but it was a pretty bad cut.  The student who gave the high five ended up getting suspended and the mother of the victim pressed charges against that person.  What happened was assault so it would only make sense to press charges and have their medical bills paid for by the person who caused it.  So far the charges have gone nowhere because the parents of the person who did the crime claimed that it was juvenile and just a joke.  That would not be a good excuse in my book.  This is not just happening in my school if you are wondering.  I don’t go to a bad school, there are just bad people in my school.

                A similar incident happened and was reported on ESPN in this article.  Charges were pressed against the person who did the whole thumb tack prank, but so far nothing has really been done.  This just goes to show that things aren’t taken seriously in schools and administration doesn’t do much when bullying or other serious stuff occurs.  “They are just students that don’t know better.”  That is a common saying used by administration to brush off an incident.  In my opinion the student does know better and if they don’t then it is on the parents to teach them right from wrong.  I have noticed that students are making more poor decisions than before and they have no respect for other people.  What is happening to society?  While a lot of the blame may be put on the parent at this point for raising their child wrong, it is still the student that did wrong and they should have to take responsibility for their actions.   Was suspension enough or should the student have it put on their criminal record?  That will be for the judge to decide, but it just goes to show that things aren’t taken as seriously in my school.  Assault is assault and should be handled like the crime that it is.  Hopefully no one else has to experience a wicked high five, but for those who think this is just a joke, grow up and open your eyes.  That’s not the only bad thing happening in schools now.

School Absences

                It is so much fun having a school absence.  Even if you are a studious person, a field trip or another event is always better than going to school.  I personally enjoy learning, but sometimes getting away from the same 2000 students in my school is a good thing.

                A school absence is different from any other absence.  Why? Well, it is the school that is actually calling you out and excusing you from classes.  Your parents wouldn't call you out and make up the often excuse of having a doctor’s appointment.  You have a real reason to miss school and it involves school!  Fun, right?  Some teachers can get pretty upset about their students missing school often because of a sport or other extracurricular activity, but they can deal with it.  It's not the student’s fault that so many activities are pushed on to them.  It is always good to get involved in what you like.

                Like any other absence it would still be expected that you make up your missed work.  I know several people that use the excuse of a school absence for not having to do anything and just being able to skip those missed assignments.  A student should be committed to school as well as their extracurricular activity.  It is always a good idea to find out what you will miss before you miss that way you can make plans to do the extra work to catch up. 

                A school absence has the word school in it, so it should be focused on school right?  Well that’s not always the case.  Sports aren’t always focused on school, they are focused on the sport at hand and winning, but it is the school that provides that sport.  Athletes often have a lot of school absences and I would know from personal experience.  Being involved in band, golf, and several other activities; I am missing out on a lot of school.  A policy in my school is that you can’t fall behind in classes due to sports and if you receive a D or lower in a class, you are not able to participate in that sport and will sit out on the next few competitions.  I value that rule, but I wish that they would change it to be a C or lower because C is average and an athlete should be able to maintain an average grade if they really want to commit to another thing.

                Field trips are another type of school absence.  Most likely you wouldn’t go on a field trip by yourself, so your whole class or group would also miss out on school.  In that case, hopefully the teacher wouldn’t have any make up work because they would also be attending the field trip.  As you increase in grade level field trips tend to occur less often unfortunately.  I feel that field trips are important to a student’s education because they are able to go outside of school and apply what they learned or even learn more stuff that they wouldn’t be able to learn in school.  This school absence is definitely worth missing school for.  In this article it discusses all of the advantages of taking a school field trip.  With all of the advantages I hope schools see that it is a necessary thing to do even at the higher levels of education.  I guess it wouldn’t necessarily be missing school because it would be like the school would come with you.  You would just be out of the building for the day. 

                School absences are necessary and should be enjoyed.  It is sometimes a rare occasion to have a school absence so take advantage of it.  Everyone needs a break once in a while and it should be a school break that still slightly involves school. 

School Start Times

Recently in Iowa there was an announcement that waivers wouldn’t automatically get approved for schools to start at an early date.  A school would have to show that a later start would have a negative educational impact and get approved by the director if they wanted to start early, meaning before the Iowa State Fair.  While that may benefit some school districts close to the Des Moines area, the later start date will definitely hurt most students in the Cedar Rapids Community School District and our Superintendent and School Board should consider filling out a waiver to have our normal start date of before the end of the Iowa State Fair.  If you are not familiar with this new change, here is a website that explains in detail what has been said and what will be done in the future for an early start date. 

 The main reason for having a later start date was to make sure that students could work and go to the Iowa State Fair.  By doing a recent survey in one of my classes, I found out that the people who don’t go to the Iowa State Fair still wouldn’t go even if there was a later start date in the school year that would allow them to. Most of the kids in my school district don’t work at the Iowa State Fair, which would have caused them to miss the first week or so of school.  The Iowa State Fair doesn’t impact most of the student in my district, so the whole district shouldn’t have to suffer with a later start date.

 Educationally it will hurt most of the Advanced Placement students because although our schools will be starting later, our Advanced Placement exam dates will not.  It just means that there would be less time to learn and study information for the exams.  I would then expect that the test scores would be worse because it already feels like there isn’t enough time to prepare for the exams.  If a student is spending time in class for an exam and if they spend a lot of money on an exam, it would only be fair that they get a fair amount of time to prepare for the exam so they can pass.  

 It was also said that if school was started later, there would still be football games that would happen around the same previous dates.  There would then be around three football games that take place before school even has a chance to start.  With school not being in session and there still being football games, I would think that not as many students would show up to the games.  Fewer students attending games means less money raised at the sporting event that would have gone back to the school.  The school would then receive less money and there would be a lower budget that could then educationally impact the students negatively.  

 Although it may be nice to not start school so early and have what would seem like a longer summer, it would just push back the final day of school.  School would then cut into summer activities that may include college events, church camps, and sports camps.  A student would then have to balance all of those activities together which would most likely cause more stress and a possible decrease in grades.  With all of that being said, the school start dates should not change to be after the Iowa State Fair ends.  It will negatively impact the students educationally and personally.

Uncomfortable Discussions

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                There are always those awkward or uncomfortable conversations during class.  Whether it is about slavery, racial issues, political views, and other stuff; it can always make for a weird talk.  I feel that sometimes those conversations need to stay at home.  It is always good to make students be aware of the issues of the world, but I feel like having an open discussion sometimes leads to students having a heated debate and being judged by the other class mates.  I feel like a classroom should be a safe place to express yourself, but sometimes hearing certain things can make a person feel bad and unsafe. 

                Getting graded on participation is also hard when there is an uncomfortable debate.