lunes, 9 de junio de 2014

Portfolio ENTRY #4

Failing among students
In order to figure out why students fail, there are four main causes to be analysed. Firstly, depression is one of the most common causes of school difficulties. People with depression have continuing negative thoughts about themselves and the future, and they may experience changes in their ability to concentrate and make decisions. Secondly, students also may bring their problems at home to school with them. If a student's family is experiencing violence, unemployment,  or alcohol use by a family member, or any other upsetting experience, it may be difficult to concentrate on schoolwork. Thirdly,  anxiety is a feeling of excessive worry about a possible danger or an uncomfortable situation that is intense enough to interfere with a person's ability to concentrate and focus. Lastly, the fourth cause is related to the learning disabilities, which refers to conditions that interfere with gaining specific academic skills, such as reading or writing. Although these are not the only causes that lead to students’ failure, the study is based on the most common reasons.  


Working Women


Even though women have increasingly become more involved in the workforce of every nation in the last fifty years, women have always worked in one way or another.  In previous centuries, working class women had no choice but to work in order to help support their families. They used to carry out home-based jobs such as sewing, laundry and cooking to sell on the streets. Many women were also employed in factories or as domestic service for richer families. This was in addition to their unpaid job at home which included cooking, cleaning and child care. Similarly, 21st century women perform a wide variety of paid work for others, which in most cases is crucial to sustain the family; and also perform the same unpaid domestic chores. Throughout history, women have received lower wages than men for the same job. In spite of gender equality movements, sex discrimination is still usual; not only in the payment women receive but in the activities they are “welcomed” to participate.  All in all, women have historically played an important role in the development of economy.


 Failing among students
In order to understand why students fail there are some important causes to be analyzed. Firstly, depression is the most common cause of school difficulties. People with depression have continuing negative thoughts about themselves and their future, and they may experience changes in their ability to concentrate and make decisions during a class. Secondly, students’ problems at home may also be an obstacle at school. If a student's family is experiencing violence, unemployment, or alcohol use by a family member, it may be difficult to concentrate on schoolwork. Lastly, the third important cause is related to the learning disabilities, which refers to conditions that interfere with gaining specific academic skills, such as reading or writing. Although these are not the only causes that lead to students’ failure, the study is based on the most common reasons. 
Metacognitive Analysis
Once again I realized that the topic sentence is the most important point to be taken into account when writing a paragraph. After receiving the feedback provided by my teacher, I could see that the relation between the topic sentence and the rest of the paragraph was not clear enough. I had to restate it, and differentiate between causes of students’ failure and its main results. In consequence, the conclusion sentence ended up by not being related to the topic sentence, so I had also to restate it aiming to a better conclusion of the paragraph.        .