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Everson v. Board of Education
This was a case that applied the Establisment clause in our country's Bill of Rights. A New Jersey tax payer was upset that parents of both pubic and private schools were getting reimbursed for taking public transportation. He felt that the private students getting reimbursed was mixing religion. The court found that because all students were being reimbursed there was no support of religion. This paved for how the First Amendment would be used in court cases. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education determined that it was unconstitutional for schools to separate public schools for black and white students. This was a huge part of integration and the Civil Rights Movement. This Supreme Court decision affected my education because when I went to school there was no separation. Had that court case not took place, schools could still be separated today. This effected not only schools but the way our country operated. -
Engel v. Vitale
Engel v. Vitale was a Supreme Court case that ruled that schools can not have an official school prayer that students are encouraged to recite. This had an effect on my education because we did not do prayer in school. School and religion were kept separate. Had this court case gone the other way, prayer may have been a daily part of my schooling. -
Epperson v. Arkansas
The Supreme Court case of Epperson v. Arkansas allowed schools to teach the theory of evolution in school. During my school experience this was a small part of our science curriculum. I was, however, taught about evolution. This court ruling had an impact on my education. -
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District 1969
The Supreme Court case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District stated that students have a right to voice their opinions to a certain point. Schools can not take away the students first ammendment rights. This case affected my education because I had a right to voice my opinion during school. I was able to show support for different things i was passionate about. Had the court case gone in favor of the school, students today might not have that right and neither would I. -
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier
In the Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier the Supreme Court made a decision that school administrators were allowed to look at expression of students through school sponsored activities. The case involved a school newspaper at Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis County, Missouri. This supreme court decision effected me because I was on the high school newspaper when i was in high school. We had a teacher work with us and she was the final editor and checked over all of our work. -
Night Time Stories
From the time I was born my parents would read nightly bed time stories. One of my favorites was, "Love You Forever". This helped to develop me into a person who enjoyed stories and reading. -
Beauty and the Beast
When I was about three years old my parents had purchased a personalized book of Beauty and the Beast. In the name of the Beauty was Alyssa instead of Belle. This was one of my favorite books and my parents would read it to me all the time. -
Book Publishing
In 1st Grade at South Hanover Elementary School in the Lower Dauphin School District was when I was first able to publish my own book. The process was that I had to write my story out on paper. After working working indepdently with the teacher and editing the book, she would send it off to the Publishing Center that was located in the school library. When the book came back it had a cover and was typed into pages. I was then able to draw my illustrations to complete my book! -
Columbine School Shooting
It's unfortunate that during my time in school there were as many school shootings as there were. Columbine is another unfortunate event where innocent lives were lost. At the time, I was 8 years old and was unaware of what had occured. I remember being in high school and a teacher teaching us about what had happened and the pit in my stomach as I heard about the horrific event. These events made students more aware of their surroundings and students were paying more attention to their peers. -
Procedures Writing
This experience is from second grade at South Hanover Elementary School. My teachers name was Mrs. Bowen and we were doing writing of steps for how to do something. I had chosen how to jump rope. I can remember when I would write my steps I had to take them to Mrs. Bowen and she would act them out. It amazed me the little things I had forgotten, such as picking up the jump rope! This was one of my favorite writing assignments I ever did in Elementary School. I have remembered it all these years. -
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
The NCLB Act of 2001 requires states to have standardized assessments that must be given to all students at that grade level.The purpose of this act was to close the gap in achievement so no child is left behind. When this act was passed by Congress I was in 5th grade. At the time I did not know about the act so I could not understand the importance of it. It has definetely had an impact on my education by changing the way assessments were given. Such as the PSSAs and assessments in my district. -
September 11th
After the terrorist attack on September 11th school security procedures became increased. I remember being in 5th grade when it happened and leaving for a doctors appointment. This was something that always stuck with me. -
Journaling
When I was in 5th grade I started writing in a journal. I loved being able to write my thoughts and feelings down on paper. I enjoyed going back and reading them later in later years. This was a personal space where I could express myself through my writing. -
Playing School
When I was 11 and my sister was 5, I loved to play school with her. I would teacher her how to read and write. In our basement we ahd a whole classroom set up. This was one of my first experiences teaching someone how to read and working with someone on their wriitng. -
Letters at Camp
Camp Hebron WebsiteIn 5th Grade at South Hanover Elementary School in the Lower Dauphin School District we traveled for a week to Camp Hebron in the Halifax area. While I was there I would write letters to my family back home. -
Virgina Tech School Shooting
This event was a shooting that took place at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Unitversity in Blacksburg, Virginia. During this shooting there were many lives lost and many people wounded. This was another event in my education that changed security procedures at my school. I feel that events like these also made students more aware. At this time I was in high school and I feel students became more aware of their surroundings. -
High School Newspaper
During my sophmore year in high school I was a part of the school newspaper. While working on the paper I was able to increase my knowledge of writing by writing journal articles and working mroe indepth to the editing process. -
College Social Studies
Writing was soemthing I always enjoyed doing. Teachers generally thought I was a good writer. During my freshman year of college I had a Social Studies professor tell me that I was a horrible writer. This was a very negative time in my experience with writing. I was able to overcome in through having other professors who felt like I was a good writer. -
Note Journal
From the time my sister could write we began writing notes back and forth to each other. We had one specific notebook that we would pass back and forth and write to each other.We would write about anything from our day to how angry one of our parents had made us.
