11.08.07 choice blog

In this article “Teens' risky actions grow in high school” from the Denver Post talks about the number of dangers and suicide attempts in high school students. A survey was conducted with Denver teens and results scared adults. Also last year a survey was conducted in Abraham Lincoln High School and Half of the 11th-graders surveyed at Abraham Lincoln said they had been in a car with a person who had been drinking, 45 percent of the 88 freshmen queried said they had tried to kill themselves in the past year, and just 30 percent of 10th-graders felt they had adequate parental support. Later in the article the school’s district says that they figured out where to put their efforts in to save lives. For the sake of these teens parents Denver put together a video of these statistics to show how dangerous this subject actually is. The video was viewed at a recent “parents advisory committee” at ALHS to show these families that “its in the parents mind power.”

After reading this article all I can say is WOW. I had no clue that this many teens were wanting or attempted to commit suicide last year. And I can only imagine how the numbers have changed from the past year to this year. I think about if that survey was conducted at my school how the number would come out. And if maybe someone I know may be included in those numbers who have tried it. I agree with the city, that school should enforce the importance suicide and how much it can affect the other people around you. I believe the earlier that kids/teens are taught that this can be shared with other people to prevent it the more the number will decrease for teen deaths. Also I agree with the people saying that the risks of life become more extreme in high school because the number of people doing these bad things is greater. And those big numbers of people put more pressure on teens. There isn’t one teen that won’t be offered a chance to “rebel” while in school whether it be in middle or high school. Everyone is faced with decisions and they have the ability to make the good decision as long as mentors among them have lived a good lifestyle and taught them good things. It also hurts me to hear that some modern day teens feel that there life isn’t important or no one feels they are important. EVERYONE is important in the world and should be taught that their life isn’t meaningless and shouldn’t be taken for granted. I recommend reading this article because I think that the more adults/teens who are informed about this very serious subject the more aware people will become about their family/friends.

PLN Choice 11-1-07

Not Your Parents' Parent-Teacher Conferences

In this article Mr. Fisch talks about how having parent teacher conferences are almost pointless when the parents only want to discuss their child’s grade. Many teachers agree with him because when the parents know that their child’s grades are accessible online and they can talk to their kids they still come in and discuss it with their teacher. So one teacher this year took a different approach, she decided to sit down with each of her students and ask them to do and answer the following:

• Assess your learning in class so far this semester. Look at your participation, growth in writing, comprehension, etc..
• Where, in terms of your learning, do you want to be at the end of the semester?
• How are you going to get there?
• What can I do to help?
• Write a message to your parents.

Once the student’s did this they were supposed to bring their “learning assessment” to their parents to view.

After reading this article I think about how it makes a difference of who is asking me to view my grade and tell what level I want my learning to be at by a certain time. I truly believe that having this come from someone besides a parents really shows that it isn’t just the kid’s parents that care about what’s going on with their school work. Whenever I am asked to sit down with one/any of my teachers and discuss my grade I truly never worry because I don’t have bad grades. But when I think about how others feel when they have to sit with their teacher and discuss their grade when it isn’t good, it makes me wonder what is going through their head. I also like how the teachers take successful kid’s advice and disperse it to the kid’s who may need help. In the end I think student-teacher conferences are better than parent-teahcer conferences.