Evan

//**Anthony Rebora**//
This article, written by Anthony Rebora, contributor to the Teacher Professional Development Source-Book, is an article about a survey taken by American educators and the need for additional support and resources to diverse-needs students. This survey polled thousands of teachers, administrators, students, parents, and executives from fortune 1000 companies. The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher asked if students with "low-income status, limited fluency in English, or learning disabilities--become college-and career-ready should be a priority in education. More than half of the teachers (59 percent) indicated it should be one of schools' highest priorities." (Rebora, 1). The other interesting aspect of this was the comparison of answers between teachers, and top business executives. The business executives said that more attention should be placed on weeding out the bad teachers, and making a system to evaluate teacher performance to class success/failures.

I thought this was a very interesting article that gave a unique look into the thoughts of teachers, students, parents, and outside members of a community regarding future outlook of diverse learners. As someone who is going to be an elementary ed and special ed major, I enjoyed reading this article for its relevancy and insight into my future career field. Two things stand out to me after reading this article. First off, I think that it is imperative that we conduct more surveys like this. Its a great resource for administrators and teachers to use when deciding the outlook for curriculum development and implementation. If we have all of these different perspectives compiled, we can put the best plan in place for the student, school, and community. Secondly, I think this article demonstrates a weakness in our education system. There is very limited communication between all 5 aspects of schooling (Student, Parent, Teacher, School, Community). There may be a few areas that communicate once in a while, but typically, all 5 areas never communicate. This was a great article, that was easy to read, and straight to the point.

Like I hinted about in the paragraph above, I think a study like this is critical in order to attempt to link these different populations together. I'm a big advocate for the Asset Approach to education. The more assets students have, whether its coaches, teachers, pastors, neighbors, family friends, community members, etc., the more potential for success. If we could expand a survey like this to every school district, we could start the process of connecting these groups together, which would only strengthen the students in the district. Diverse learners have enough obstacles on their way to a decent education. By providing them with more assets and advocates, we allow them the best possible, least restrictive, learning environment and community for success.

References Rebora, A. (2011). Teachers: Schools Lack Resources for Diverse-Needs Students. //Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook//, //5//(1), 5.



//Monster// by Walter Dean Myers is a unique young-adult fiction that takes the reader into the personal journal of a young African-American high school student, Steve Harmon, and his struggle in an adult high security prison, as Steve goes through a long armed robbery and murder trial. Steve is an aspiring filmmaker, so he decides to tell the story in the style of a screenplay and personal journal. He writes the story that is developing in the courtroom as a screenplay and his time in the prison as a personal journal. Steve is 16 years old, and doesn't know how to handle his time in prison. He frequently describes his life in the prison as "not real", and struggles to deal with the reality of his situation. Steve is accused of being the "lookout" for two other acquaintances, who eventually rob and kill a 55 yr old drug store owner. When the crime happened, Steve wasn't too shocked that something like this happened,as this is the type of neighborhood he lived in, and continued on with his daily life. When detectives came to Steve's door, and took him downtown, Steve and his family were in complete shock. Most of the book was testimony from witnesses and examination by the prosecution and defense. The outlook for Steve was not good for most of the movie, as multiple accomplices, of questionable character, testified that he was involved. At the end, however, Steve was deemed "Not-Guilty", and was filled with a great sense of freedom.

This book provided, with vivid detail, a candid look into a rough African-American New York neighborhood. Myers does a great job at showing the good side to this neighborhood however. He portrayed the innocent shop-owner and families that were affected by this incident in great light. He showed that although there is a stigma attached to the "ghetto", there are still positive families and people who have a good impact on the community. Steve's teacher (white, middle class) testified on Steve's behalf, and demonstrated the positive impact Steve has on his school. In reading this book, I feel like you need to understand that students come from very diverse backgrounds. Even if the background isn't ethnically diverse, students still come from incredibly diverse backgrounds.

I realize that in reading this book in just about two hours, I understand that my reading level and ability has improved a great deal since I was in middle school and high school. This is a minimal acknowledgement, but a good reminder that you need to slow things down with your students, even though you have the ability to breeze by something. On the same accord, this would be a great book to read concurrently with a government lesson. There were a lot of things in this book that students woudln't generally know, like "cross examining, testimony, verdicts, etc.". It would be a great opportunity to blend two lessons together.

I highly suggest this book for middle school and lower level high school students. It offers a unique perspective, as the fictional writer is a 16 year old student. There are many different activities and discussion topics that could be easily applied to this book. It also could be a great intro to diversity and legal studies. It is also written with a different style, that the students would find refreshing and easy to read.