Autumn Tamlyn

Every Day by David Levithan is a young adult novel that follows the life of an individual named A. A lives a very unique life because he or she wakes up each morning in a different body and experiences that person's life for the day. A is in control of the body he inhabits each day and uses "accessing" to determine information about them from their mind. To avoid being detected as an imposter by the persons family or friends, A uses context clues and acts in the way they think that person would act. A is not defined by a gender and spends some days in the body of a male and other days in the body of a female.  Because of this I am going to refer to A as them or their in this blog post. A is generally very respectful of the persons' life and tries not to disturb any part of it unless absolutely necessary. This often means that A attends the persons school, does their homework, participates in sports practices, and does anything that person would typically do. ...

What are the benefits of learning a second language? Throughout the beginning of the twentieth century, the idea that learning a second language at an early age confuses children and hinders their cognitive development was the primary belief. However, new studies have shown that this common misconception is actually the opposite of the truth . Now, linguistics, psychologists, and educators all agree that second language acquisition, or the learning of a second language, improves cognitive development by enhancing abstract thinking, cognitive creativity, cognitive flexibility, and memory retention. The most recent studies have shown that the enhancement of creative thinking allows individuals to create solutions that they otherwise would not have thought of which leads to more complex problems solving abilities. Students who learn a second language also have been found to be better listeners and have a greater ability to concentrate. All of these benefits are acquired duri...

During elementary school it is common for parents to be involved in many aspects of their child's learning since their children are at a more dependent age. Unfortunately, as students move into middle school the amount of parent involvement tends to decrease because student's are becoming more self-sufficient and independent. However, it is crucial to maintain a high level of parent involvement during this transition, and throughout middle school, to insure that students are receiving the supervision and support needed for them to be successful and engaged students. Joyce Epstein is the director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at John Hopkins University where she received her doctorate degree in Sociology and is currently the principal research scientist and a professor of Sociology. Epstein developed a framework for Six types of parent involvement. In this blog I am going to discuss two these six types by analyzing their key benefits, the chall...