Hell on Earth Essay

Hell on Earth Essay Hell on Earth Essay Coming home from a busy day of school, the first thing the little girl can think about is the after school snack that is awaiting in the refrigerator and snack drawer. But before she can even put her backpack down and take her shoes off, her fuzzy best friend, who happens to be a German Shepherd, comes scrambling around the corner to greet her with a wagging tail and a tilt of the head that articulates, â€Å"You’ve been gone for too long; I’ve missed you†. The little girl responds with a grin, a twinkle in her eye that agrees, â€Å"I missed you more†, and open arms, perfect for Fritz to get closer for a belly rub. Fritz turns over on his back, with his legs in the air, for the little girl to itch his favorite spot (Deane). Just as Fritz begins to calm down from excitement of seeing his favorite cuddle buddy, a loud noise crashes upstairs. The clamor triggers a response in Fritz’s mind that turns the lovable dog’s personality into a growlin g monster. As the girl screams for her mom’s help, it is already too late. The dog pounces onto the innocent girl and opens his mouth with her leg in direct fire. As Fritz bites down, the little girl’s cry tells her mom to hurry down stairs immediately (Deane). My mom, the little girl, has told me countless stories, like this one, about her dog Fritz suddenly changing personalities from the snuggly pillow to a ruthless, snarling monster. Fritz had attacked countless amounts of people and hindered the safety of my mom’s family. My grandparents, feeling rushed buying a German shepherd due to the sudden passing of their dog, went against their better judgment and decided to buy the squished puppy hiding behind the metal fence and small cage from a pet store in a mall. In the beginning Fritz seemed just like any other German shepherd puppy they bought; but after two years of ruthless behavior from Fritz and failed behavior training, my grandparents made the difficul t decision to put him down. My grandparents felt ashamed for making that grim behavior, but they knew Fritz could not be tamed and it was for the better (Deane). Fritz’s behavior and psychological problems due to the puppy mill where he was born created a monster disguised in an adorable, fuzzy friend’s body that could not be fixed. Just like my grandparents, many other people have seen and purchased, the barking, hopeless dogs begging for a home behind the glass wall in a shopping mall. Like Fritz, most of the dogs have been driven to the mall from a disturbing past, a puppy mill. A puppy mill is a sadistic compound where the profit from dogs is the ultimate goal and the treatment and health of the dogs are inhumane and not a priority of the owner. Imagine, a warehouse with objects stacked on top of each other, row after row, abandoned in the dark. In these objects are puppies often starving and dehydrated covered in the feces that dropped from the cages above (Humane Society of the United States). This image is not a nightmare; it is happening across the United States every day. Without ever seeing daylight or experiencing the freedom to run around, female dogs have two litters a year until the age of 5, when they ultimately wear out. They are part of a continuous cycle of birthing and nursing puppies. Many litters have chronic diseases, rotten teeth, and eye and ear infections. In addition to physical harm, puppies have genetic disorders and many other psychological problems that appear to owners months or years after buying directly or indirectly from a puppy mill. Females that are no longer able to produce puppies are starved to death or set loose to the wild where they are ultimately killed (Sharon). As citizens of the United States of America we need to take a stand against the coldhearted treatment towards innocent puppies. I am proposing to you, as a citizen of this supposed glorious country, to expose the hidden truth of puppy mills to your legislators and lawmakers. The dogs in these conditions do not have a

Specific Teaching Strategies to Differentiate Instruction

Specific Teaching Strategies to Differentiate Instruction Research shows that one of the most effective ways to meet all learners needs is to differentiate instruction. Many teachers use differentiated instruction strategies because it allows them to engage their students by accommodating each students unique learning style. However, when you have a large group of students, it can be tough to keep up with each child’s individual needs. It takes time to come up with, and implement differentiated activities.  To help keep the workload manageable, teachers have tried a variety of strategies, from tiered assignments to choice boards. Here are a few more teacher-tested teaching strategies to differentiate instruction in your elementary classroom.   Choice Board Choice boards are activities that give students options as to what activities to complete to meet class requirements. A great example of this comes from a third-grade teacher named Mrs. West. Mrs. West uses choice boards with her third-grade students because she feels it is the easiest way to differentiate instruction while keeping her students engaged. While choice boards can be set up in a variety of ways (student interest, ability, learning style, etc.) Mrs. West chooses to set up her choice boards by using the Multiple Intelligence Theory. She sets up the choice board like a tic tac toe board- in each box she writes a different activity and asks her students to choose one activity from each row. The activities vary in content, product, and process. Here is an example of the types of tasks she uses on her students choice board. Choice Board for Multiple Intelligences: Verbal/Linguistic – Write instructions on how to use your favorite gadget.Logical/Mathematical – Design a map of your bedroom.Visual/Spatial –   Create a comic strip.Interpersonal-   Interview a friend or your best friend.Free ChoiceBody-Kinesthetic - Make up a game.Musical – Write a song.Naturalist – Conduct an experiment.Intrapersonal – Write about the future. Learning Menu Learning menus are much like choice boards whereas students have the opportunity to choose which tasks on the menu that they would like to complete. However, the learning menu is unique in that it actually takes the form of a menu. Instead of having a nine square grid with nine unique choices on it, the menu can have an unlimited amount of choices for the students to choose from. You can also set up your menu in a variety of ways, as mentioned above. Here is an example of a spelling homework learning menu: Learning Menu for Homework: (Students choose one from each category)Appetizer - Sort spelling words into categories, choose three spelling words to define, highlight all vowels.Entree - Use all spelling words to write a story, write a poem using five spelling words, write a sentence for each spelling word.Dessert - Write your spelling words in ABC order, Create a word search using at least five words, use a mirror to write your spelling words backward.   Tiered Activities In a tiered activity, all students are working on the same activity, but the activity is differentiated according to ability level. A great example of this type of tiered strategy is in an elementary school classroom where kindergartners are at the reading center.   An easy way to differentiate learning without the students even knowing it  is to have the students play the game, Memory. This game is easy to differentiate because you can have beginning students try to match a letter with its sound, while the more advanced students can try and match a letter to a word. To differentiate this station, all you have to do is have different bags of cards for each level, and direct specific students to which cards they should choose from. To make differentiation invisible, color-code the bags and tell each student which color he/she should choose. Another example of tiered activities is to break the assignment into three sections using varied levels of tasks. Here is an example of a basic tiered activity: Tier One: (Low) - Describe how the character acts.Tier Two: (Middle) - Describe the changes the character went through.Tier Three: (High) - Describe the clues that the author gives about the character. Many elementary school teachers find that this differentiated instructional strategy is an effective way for students to reach the same goals while taking into account each of their students’ individual needs. Adjusting Questions Many teachers find that an effective questioning strategy is to use adjusted questions to help them differentiate instruction in their classroom. The way this strategy works is simple- you use Blooms Taxonomy to develop questions starting with the most basic level, then moving towards the more advanced levels. Students at varying levels are able to answer questions on the same topic, but also at their own level. Here is an example of how teachers can use adjusted questing to differentiate an activity: For this example, the students had to read a paragraph, then answer a question that was tiered to their level. Basic learner - Describe what happened after...Advanced learner - Can you explain why...More Advanced learner - Do you know of another situation where... Flexible Grouping Many teachers who differentiate instruction in their classroom find flexible grouping an effective method of differentiation because it provides students with the opportunity to work with other students who may have a similar learning style, readiness, or interest as them. Depending on the purpose of the lesson, teachers can plan their activities based on a students’ attributes, then use flexible grouping to group students accordingly. The key to making flexible grouping effective is making sure the groups are not static. Its important that teachers continually conduct assessments throughout the year, and move students among the groups as they master their skills. Often time’s teachers tend to group students according to their ability at the beginning of the school year, and then forget to change the groups, or do not think they need to. This is not an effective strategy and will only hinder students from progressing. The Jigsaw The Jigsaw cooperative learning strategy is another effective method to differentiate instruction. In order for this strategy to be effective, students must work together with their classmates to complete an assignment. Heres how to works: Students are divided into small groups and each student is assigned one task. This is where the differentiation comes in- each child within the group is responsible for learning one thing, then bringing the information that they learned back to their group to teach their peers. The teacher can differentiate learning by choosing what, and how, each student in the group will learn the information. Here is an example of what a Jigsaw learning group looks like. Example of a Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Group: Students are divided into groups of five students. Their task is to research Rosa Parks. Each student within the group is given a task that suits their unique learning style. Here is an example. Student 1: Create a fake interview with Rosa Parks and find out about her early life.Student 2: Create a song about the Montgomery bus boycott.Student 3: Write a journal entry about Rosa Parks life as a civil rights pioneer.Student 4: Create a game that tells facts about racial discrimination.Student 5: Create a poster about Rosa Parks legacy and death. In todays elementary schools, classrooms are not taught with a â€Å"one size fits all† approach. Differentiated instruction allows for teachers to meet the needs of all learners, while still maintaining high standards and expectations for their students. Whenever you teach a concept in a variety of different modalities, you increase the chances that you will reach each and every student.