Home Advantage

There are many social classes in our society, ranging from poverty to wealthy.
According to Home Advantage by Annette Lareau, there are several different views
on how social class at home affects children in social situations outside of the home.
The author has the belief that social class does in fact affect a childs schooling. One
of her reasonings behind this is due to working-class adults leaving work at work
and not bringing work home, or around their families whereas upper-class adults
often bring work home and travel more often leaving their families behind. With the
parents gone more often, they are not there to be completely involved in their
childs school life thus creating a tear between children and their involvement in
school as well.
There are many factors that go into parent involvement for children at the
elementary school level. One group of sociologists think parent involvement is more
about preparing a student for school, like teaching them to read and the alphabet
and things like that. Another group of sociologists feel parent involvement should be
based more on providing a stable home and place to do school work and join in on
school activities. Research shows that parent involvement is positively linked to
school success, however some parents are not as involved in their childs school
life as some teachers might hope (3). The parents who are more actively involved in
promoting verbal development and attending school events are the middle-class
parents, but these parents also have the second lowest percent of showing up for
parent-teacher conferences. Teachers are trying to improve the percentage of
parents who are involved at this young age, because research shows that more
involvement at a younger age reduces the likelihood of a student dropping out of
school later.
Despite differences on what is best perceived as parent involvement, these
same sociologists agree on the decision to increase it in schools. They agree on this
concept because parent involvement increases students involvement in school
activities as well as improving their performance in their classes. Schools do not
operate based on social status, however people do make it to where it does operate
that way. The parents of the working-class assume the teachers have full
responsibility for teaching their students, where upper-middle-class parents believe
this is a shared responsibility. Both of these types of parents, however, share a
desire for their child to succeed in school (9).

https://books.google.com/books?
id=ZpDVXcj6XygC&printsec=frontcover&dq=elementary+education&hl=en&sa=X&
ved=0CD0Q6AEwAmoVChMIptS19-D-xwIVBE2SCh3ItgW_#v=onepage&q&f=true

The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades

The daily five is a program that was created for teachers to implement in
their classrooms to ensure student success. The first edition came out and proved

success in the classrooms that followed it, but the writers kept researching these
classrooms and developed a second edition. This edition comes with several lesson
plans on how to start the Daily 5 program for their students. The main change from
the second to first edition is the organization of the book. The writers recreated the
book and made it more accessible and easier to understand.
There are five main points in this program that the teachers provide for their
students. These points are not only beneficial for the student, but the teacher and
school as well. Teachers that use this program are able to see their classrooms be
productive throughout the day, and also see their students grow a fondness for
literacy. With students knowing more about, and using literacy more their
academics in this subject rise, which improves the schools rating. Not only does
this happen for literacy, but if students gain structure and discipline in one subject,
it will most like transfer over into their other subjects.
The five points in this program include Read to Self, Work on Writing, Read to
Someone, Listen to Reading, and Word work. Students pick one of these five points
to work on each day. By separating these out, and not doing all at one time, they
are able to really focus on the point at hand. By focusing on one point at a time the
students are able to see their own personal progress and see them reach the goal
they set for themselves. With all the positive feedback from the literacy Daily 5
program, this same company has started a new program called the Math Daily 3,
which teachers can implement in their classrooms along with the Daily 5 to improve
math scores and understanding.
https://books.google.com/books?
id=38YBAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Daily+5:+Fostering+Literacy+In
dependence+in+the+Elementary+Grades&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAGoVCh
MI9r7T9pOByAIVCBqSCh1gZwd2#v=twopage&q&f=true

New Perspectives in Special Education

The school system in the United States is different from other countries in the
fact that every state has different requirements and organizations. It also differs due
to the continuous acts and amendments that get passed regarding education.
Through these new acts, especially the Regular Education Initiative, in the United
States the involvement of special education students with the regular classrooms.
The Regular Education Initiative attempts to further integrate regular and special
education (55). With this initiative, and others like it, the school system in the
United States could be drastically changed.
The start of special education in the United States was in 1817 with the first
school for people that had impaired hearing. From there, people from all around the
world, mainly Europe, came to the United States to study people with disabilities.
However, social Darwinism contributed to the study and interest of people with
special needs to dwindle. With less and less involvement and focus on this matter,
there became a great spike in the neglecting of people with handicaps. This began
to change after World War II, because there were more foreign influences that came

to the United States which focused more on people with handicaps as well as
private organizations whose goal was to help treat people with special needs.
In 1980 The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was put in place in
the United States. This act includes children that suffer from hearing loss to physical
handicapped to speech impaired and more. One of the aspects of this act is that
children that have a handicap until the age of 21, starting at age 3, are entitled to a
free education. This article includes all the activities and programs the school puts
on, children with handicaps are allowed to participate in. Another major aspect of
this act is that special education should take place in the least restrictive
environment (63). This is so children with special needs are not completely
alienated from the rest of the school around them, and so they are allowed the
same treatment and opportunities.
https://books.google.com/books?
id=Z8qIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA55&dq=special+elementary+education&hl=en&sa=X&ve
d=0CDQQ6AEwATgeahUKEwiCiobGnoHIAhVPEZIKHTo-Ctw#v=onepage&q&f=true

The Promise of Positive Psychology in the Elementary School Classroom

This book, The Promise of Positive Psychology in the Elementary School
Classroom, is about psychology in elementary education. I feel this pertains to my
major and it is very important to understand this topic in my area of study. I feel this
way because it is always good to have insight on where someone a student may be
coming from and maybe even why a student is acting out in a certain way. Once a
teacher has a good grasp on the foundations of psychology, he or she can then
introduce and teach his or her students, subtly, about its principles in lesson plans.
The author put together 12 techniques that incorporate positive psychology for
teachers to use in the everyday classroom.
These techniques range from having class agreements to reflective journals
to service learning and to fine arts classes. These are all tasks that generate
positive emotion and could, potentially, help children out when it comes to making
friends, identifying strengths, and even accomplishing goals (xviii). Class
agreements help by having children pledge to uphold positive psychology and a
good behavior towards the teacher and other peers. Reflective journals are used to
provoke positive self-talk due the everyday writing about themselves. Service
learning is a way to not only practice positive social skills, but it also gives children
a chance to help others and feel the reward which could lead to positive influences
in the future. The fine art classes, such as art, drama, and music, draw out
childrens emotional strengths, and leads to more vulnerability and sympathy to
others.
These techniques may seem like they do not go together per say, however
these things trade negativity for positivity. Positive psychology offers a sense of
satisfaction and joy through meaningful situations (xix). Introducing these little
tasks, and enforcing positive psychology, at a young age impacts children for the
entirety of their social lives. With these characteristics under their belts they can

find strength in all that they do, encourage the people around them, and even
connect with people from other cultures with a positive outlook. Teachers that use
the positive psychology approach in their classrooms focus on the good parts of
education, rather than the bad parts of education.

https://books.google.com/books?
id=sYSsm2D36OsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=elementary+education&hl=en&sa=X
&ved=0CFQQ6AEwB2oVChMI78uEvJb9xwIVx5iACh1EcQzb#v=twopage&q&f=true