Conclusion
As for the first two boys I mentioned in the introduction, the straight A kid is still making straight A s at one of the top high schools in the country and is being heavily recruited to play basketball at the collegiate level. The second young man did not have the grades or test scores to get into the same high school as the first. He, too, is still playing basketball and still barely passing each year. Time will tell as to whether or not my prediction is correct. As for the third young man, he passed the state test this past school year. In fact the class of which he was a part had 100% failure rate on the previous year's state test. At the end of this school year, 80% of the students in the class passed the state test. Addressing the emotional needs of my students is just as important -if not more so -as addressing their academic needs. NCLB for all its good intentions has completely missed the mark in regards to this concept. To be effective teachers, we have to be experts in our content, experts in child physical, cognitive, and psychological development. Now with the new research, to be the most effective of teachers we need to be versed in brain development. To those making the economic decisions affecting classrooms heed this clarion call. To those teachers who have read this unit, despite all you are asked to do, never lose sight of why you became a teacher.
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