--Original published at Chey's Blog

I had a lot of really great teachers whenever I was in high school. Sure, there were some that did not care about their students at all, but I have several teachers that really cared about me and wanted me to do well. One in particular was my German teacher. I was in his class for all four years of high school, so we knew each other pretty well. I would bring donuts in the morning for him and he would help me with my assignments to make sure I did well. In my senior year I was working forty hours a week as well as going to school full time. I told him about my schedule and he offered to go into my workplace and speak with my manager about cutting my hours back because they would not listen to me. Unfortunately they were not going to change my schedule so he helped me out a lot with class work. He told me he could not give me extensions, but that he would do what he could to help. He ended up changing the way he graded my assignments. He would skip putting some of my grades in to cut me some slack. He never said this out loud, but I could see it in my scores. Now I know that is not allowed, but I appreciated it more than I could express. I felt hopeless and depressed as well as overworked and that really helped me to do more in class to make up for what I could not do outside of class. I think that helping your students and getting to know them on a personal level is the best way to improve their performance in the classroom. My teacher did this for me and really left a positive impact on me.

--Original published at LivsCollegeBlog

Music is an important part in my life so I try to implement it into as many things as I can. Whether it’s just relaxing with friends while listening to music, or listening to music while I work out, or listening to music while I study; I find that music is everywhere I go. After reading the first impression prompt and the article from New York Times, I think that Governor Miller’s decision was a wise one. Whenever I am studying, it helps to listen to music. I find that it is better to listen to classical music as it helps my focus more than music with lyrics. It is better to stick to music that does not contain any lyrics because you’ll focus more on the lyrics of the song rather than what you are studying. Although Governor Miller’s decision was a wise one, I do not think it was executed well. Rather than giving each student a cassette tape, Mozart’s music could have been implemented in the school system itself. If students listen to Mozart while they’re learning and then again while they are studying, it’ll help them to retain the information. I also don’t think it should be limited to just Mozart but rather have it expanded to classical music as a whole. I would highly recommend listening while you study to any student. It has highly benefitted me in my entire school career.

--Original published at Carly's College Blog

Since we spend most of our early lives in a school setting, peers and teacher interactions can greatly shape how we view our own intelligence.

I have had lots of educators from kindergarten to my freshman year in college. I can count on one hand just how many of them actually had a positive effect on me. Lots of teachers do not realize how much their attitudes towards classes can impact the students attitudes toward a class. Taking a class you like, but having an unenthusiastic teacher, can change the way you feel towards the class. If you are taking a class you dislike, for me it was English, AND you have a “bad” teacher, it makes the class dreadful. This can inhibit the way we view our intelligence because it can affect classroom performance.

A lot of students often feel that their teachers are only there to do their jobs and leave, and that they do not care about our well being. This is where my one hand of teachers comes in. They are teachers who are willing to go out of their way to help students. They have been able to show me my academic and personal strengths as well as making me feel more confident in my own work.

I came from a small catholic high school 10 minutes outside of Philadelphia. To critique the school system for me would be to critique the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Especially in my high school, the way the Arch handles student-teacher problems, and how teachers constantly get moved from school to school really impacts the students.

--Original published at Tyler's Ideas

I truly believe that there are many factors that go into intelligence. One of them being the environment. I was gifted with the opportunity to be in one of the top public schools in Pennsylvania and a ranked school district in the nation. My high school focused on the interactions with students and did everything they could to help students succeed. Because of this, throughout my school career I have also done my best to make some sort of connection with my teachers. Something school systems could do is push for this interaction between teachers and students. I honestly believe that because of the relationship I had with my teachers, overall, I did better in school. This may be due to the fact that I enjoyed coming to class more because of my teacher or may be because I had the opportunity for one on one sessions. I think many students would benefit from one on one sessions.

Another example of something the school system could do to promote learning is implement a more interactive style of learning. I know personally getting involved in my class room has aided me when needed to recall information. Being lectured for a full class period is boring and usually turns students’ brains off by the end. Interactive learning also gives students the ability to practice their social skills which is also very important. I believe that there are many other things the school system could do to improve students; performance in the classroom, and of course everyone is different, but these changes would absolutely help a student like me.

--Original published at Site Title

I think Governor’s decision was not a good one. He was making this decision based on his personal beliefs and interests. The article references a professor from the University or Toronto, who even studies infant’s perception of music, who states that there is not enough evidence out right now to back up the claim that having infants listen to soothing music can help develop their brain connections. $105,000 is a lot of money out of the state’s budget to spend without solid evidence that this would even make an impact on the baby’s development. It is also a lot of money to spend if the cassettes will only be used when the child is a baby, which is such a short portion of their lives. I think there are other, more simple ways to help develop a child’s brain, such as reading to them every night. I also believe that the impact the music would have on the baby depends on their genes. If their parents are musically inclined then there might be a good chance that their child could be too, but on the other hand, if they are not then the baby might not reap the benefits. Personally for me, I know I get my taste in music from my mom and classical music would not be vert stimulating for me. When Governor Miller played classical music for the lawmakers and then asked them if they felt smarter I thought in my head how listening to classical would make me feel; tired and very unstimulated.

--Original published at Psychology 105

I have been a fairly hardworking student throughout my entire time in school. I would say most of my interactions with teachers have been positive because of this. I don’t think most teachers care about grades as much as they care about seeing students put effort in to try to learn. However, I think that some teachers automatically equate poor grades with laziness and this seems to be an issue sometimes. I can recall times I studied for the same amount of time for an exam that both me and a friend had to take. Even if we put the same amount of effort in, if one of us got a poor grade the instructor seemed to assume that we didn’t even try. I believe in some cases it may be easier to assume students aren’t trying, rather than trying to evaluate any other factors that are contributing to their success or lack thereof. I think some teachers even go a bit further sometimes and stop encouraging students entirely if their performance isn’t that great overall. I think especially for children, this would be incredibly impactful. I think our school systems would benefit from focusing more on learning and less on the final grade. If we could find ways to make more children enjoy learning, I think this would play big role in helping them develop their intelligence. Although I realize the students themselves and even their parents play a role in their school careers, I do think teachers are the driving force in helping students realize their potential.

--Original published at Bailey PSY 105 Blog

I have been lucky enough to have a privileged, individualized education for most of my life. Since the second grade, I have moved from private school to private school. Though these schools spanned across different states, teaching philosophies, and grade levels, they all had one thing in common: every single teacher genuinely cared for you as an individual and as a student. In some ways, this was both a blessing and a curse. Though I didn’t always see it as such, it was incredibly helpful to constantly have teachers on your side, advocating for you, keeping you accountable for your assignments, and pushing you to constantly challenge yourself inside and outside of the classroom. Coming into college, it took a little bit of an adjustment phase to realize that teachers here don’t come to you (as they did in my previous schools), you have to go to them and initiate the first step. I think if high school teachers made themselves less responsible for the students own accountability mindset, it would help them be able to adjust to college more quickly in the future. I think another change the school system could make is teaching the students material, not memorization. Coming out of high school, I knew how to study for tests, cram for tests, and take tests. I couldn’t remember the physics or calculus that I had learned just months prior. I think that if the school system made their educative model more holistic and correlate success to knowledge rather than testing, the young adults leaving that system would be far more prepared to advance in the career of their choice.

--Original published at Cecilia's Thoughts

I think that as important as your genetics are to determine your level of intelligence, there are many other factors. From the time you enter school, your intelligence is measured by tests and grades. You establish a reading level, you take tests that determine your math and science  competencies. This continues throughout the rest of your school career, and you continue to take exams that evaluate your progress in all subjects. One thing that has huge effects on a child’s level of intelligence especially during the prime developmental years, is parents, teachers and how they do in school. If children have teachers that talk to their students in a degrading way, even if it is unintentional, this affects the way the child looks at their intelligence and their ability to learn. Another huge determinant of a child’s intelligence and their ability to learn is their environment at home, if the parent or guardian’s do not promote doing well in school and working hard this will reflect in the way that they perform in school.

My mom is a teacher so before entering in to school, my education, grades, and level of intelligence was expected to be very high. I went to school where my mom taught, so the teachers that I had all throughout school knew what I was capable of and did not allow me to miss these expectations. I was lucky enough to have supportive teachers who used positive reinforcement and did not have to experience “mean” teachers you hear about in movies. Though I am sure some children to experience this and to help children in the future when they go through school, I think some changes can be made. For example, I think it would be beneficial to have more individualized evaluations of their knowledge because not every child learns in the same way and not every child can perform accurately and as well as they do in the classroom, on tests.  I myself struggle with tests because I perform well in class, on projects, and presentations, but when it come to tests I face a problem recalling information even when I am confident in knowing it. I think this small change would change the performance of students’ in the classroom because assessments weigh so much in the academic world on measuring intelligence and getting into college that it places a lot of pressure on students. This ultimately lowers performance rates so if the way assessments are done or how they are weighted is changed, I believe that will improve the performance of students because they are focused more on learning and deepening their intelligence instead of memorizing information long enough to put it onto a test.