Honors Seminar-Early Language Literature Development Impoverished Communities
Throughout this past semester I had a very eye opening experience in this honor's seminar. This was the first time that this class was offered so it was interesting to be apart of the first class to pilot this course. I discovered that I knew very little about the importance and effects that literature development has on our growing youth. I discovered that I also was very uneducated in the issues of education throughout the United States and how that affects poverty. This course was unique because it not only had a classroom aspect but a community engagement aspect as well. Every other week small groups of students would volunteer at the local Head Start school, Millvale, and bring books to read to the children. We learned that Head Start schools are those that serve the population that falls underneath the poverty line. This was a great opportunity to see for ourselves everything that we were learning in class. The community engagement also gave us the opportunity to see community trends, observe the children (how many came to school per week, what they were wearing), and a chance to talk with the teachers. Aside from reading to the children we also road the local bus to see for ourselves what it would be like to rely on public transportation as a main means of transportation. I thought that this class took a very unique take on bringing the classroom to real life. I feel that I've become more knowledgeable about education and how it relates and affects the impoverished youth of our society.
One of the larger assignments that we had this semester was a class debate. There were two debates throughout the semester and each student participated in one. The debate that I participated in worked to answer the question, "Can we really fight poverty with just education?". I debated on the pro side of the argument, writing my pre-debate paper on why community programs are also necessary to combat poverty alongside education.
Here is a sample of my debate paper from this semester.
Here is a sample of my debate paper from this semester.