Hoertel Position Paper Post

For my position paper, my top three choice were: Phonics, Opportunity gap, and the gender gap.
I chose Phonics as my final paper topic. This topic personally affects and interests me. I have never understood phonics. When I was younger, I never had any problems reading, or learning to read, I just never understood phonics. My teacher and parents tried everything they could think of to get me to understand phonics, and it nothing worked. To this day, I still can't explain the difference between a "long" a and a "short" a and whatnot. I have always been an excellent reader too. Therefore, I am interested to know alternative ways to teach reading, without focusing on phonics so much. I have personal experience, and know that teaching Phonics is not a method that works well with all students, and am interested in finding ways for students to learn without such a focus on phonics.

I chose the opportunity gap as my second choice because this is another topic that I am find interesting. I took a Sociology class last semester , and this is something that constantly interested me. I then did a poster that went on the the USF about the Failure of NCLB. Most of the failures of this law had to do with opportunity gap. Teachers are only part of the equation. The home life of students and their parent's role also makes a major difference in their development. I would be interested in understanding how to close this gap and also how this mainly relates to Urban areas and ways students can overcome these inequalities in order to have the best chance of success.

Finally, I chose the gender gap for my third choice. When I saw this choice I immediately thought of the studies that showed that on a subconscious level teachers call of male students more often than female students and the affect that this has on female learning and male learning/behavior. I looked this issue up quickly before ranking my options, and read something that was concerned about male students struggling in school. I think it would be interesting  to see if there was a correlation between these two things, and also what causes the gender gap and effective ways to close the gap.

I think all of these topics need to be debated. Everything taught should be viewed from both sides. Even if it is a method or study that has been effective for years, there is always chance for improvement and revamping.