In order to have an idea of what your marker exactly wants from you, read the assignment description carefully. This includes explanatory notes that the professor provided as well as your own notes and impressions when the assignment was handed out. Understand it carefully and watch out for any comments the marker makes about the topic which gives you an idea of what specific direction to take in terms of which resources to look up, what point of view to adapt, how to analyze the topic and which particular angle to look at. Figure out why the marker has chosen to set a particular task assignment. Can you relate it to the goals of the subject that are indicated in the syllabus?

The next thing you will need to do is determine what the work is meant to evaluate. Some projects are given to develop and enhance your ability to solve problems, others are given to test your ability to research relevant materials to a topic and then synthesize the findings from different sources to support a particular argument or point of view, while other assignments are given to see how well you understand a theory or concept by relating it to practical situations.

     I don’t know what it was that people didn’t like about me, but whatever it was, it surely wasn’t that I was a mean person. I’ve always tried to be as kind and as fair to everyone as much as possible. Perhaps that was one of the problems. People are cold, and some see kindness as weakness. Something they can use and take advantage of. This is a thought, but I find that for me at least, the friends (and I use that term loosely) I used to have, were nothing more than distractions. Taking my focus away from school work and on their bullshit agendas. I used to have “best friends” that inevitably dropped me like I was just some extra wight they didn’t need. Bums me the fuck out, but we all move on.

     As for the present, my grades currently suck and the friends I’ve managed to scrap are pretty fucked up and unreliable. There are maybe one or two of them who “seem” like they are really there for me. So for the time being, I will take that at face value. In conclusion, I would recommend to anyone younger than me in a similar situation; you have the ability to change your situation whether you realize it or not. So act now and don’t wait. For me the only ones I can count on are my family. 

This study evaluated the effectiveness of structured macro-skills’ development lessons in English of first year high school students in a public school. The findings served as the basis for a proposed module. Likewise, the inquiries below were sought to answer the following:

1.   What is the level of language proficiency of the freshmen science high school students with reference to: pronunciation; and correct usage?

2.   What are the mean pretest and posttest scores of the students based on the structured lessons of macro-skills’ learning performance?

3.   Is there a significant difference in the mean pretest and posttest scores of the students in listening, speaking, reading, and writing?

4.   What is the mean gain in the posttest?

5.   What module can be proposed based on the findings of study?

To expound more on this problem statement, according to Professor Bwisa:

1. A problem statement is the description of an issue currently existing which needs to be addressed.

2. It provides the context for the research study and generates the questions which the research aims to answer.

3. The statement of the problem is the focal point of any research.

4. A good problem statement is just one sentence (with several paragraphs of elaboration).  For example it could be:  ”The frequency of job layoffs is creating fear, anxiety, and a loss of productivity in middle management workers.”

Statement of the Problem

This study evaluated the effectiveness of structured macro-skills’ development lessons in English of first year high school students in a public school. The findings served as the basis for a proposed module. Likewise, the inquiries below were sought to answer the following:

1.   What is the level of language proficiency of the freshmen science high school students with reference to: pronunciation; and correct usage?

2.   What are the mean pretest and posttest scores of the students based on the structured lessons of macro-skills’ learning performance?

3.   Is there a significant difference in the mean pretest and posttest scores of the students in listening, speaking, reading, and writing?

4.   What is the mean gain in the posttest?

5.   What module can be proposed based on the findings of study?

Statement of the Null Hypothesis 

There is no significant difference in the mean pretest and posttest scores of the students in listening and writing.

There is a significant difference in the areas of language teaching of the students in speaking and reading. 

Significance of the Study

The results of this study benefited from many sectors of the educational institutions, especially in public schools by providing information on the results of the performance in terms of students’ language achievement that will enable the teachers to know the students’ area of difficulty and strength, thereby guiding them in reconstructing their program of teaching to suit their needs. Among the persons who will be directly or indirectly benefited are the following:

To the principal concerned, the results of this study may give her insights which would encourage her to plan projects designed to improve the quality of language teaching in the public school as the lead school of all public secondary schools, Division of Cebu Province.

The district coordinator in English as a researcher will benefit from the experimental study for future references. He has been provided with the data and information necessary for his experimental analysis utilizing the macro-skills’ learning performance intended for the students in science high school classes.

This will help the English teachers in Science High School realize in order for them to comprehend the new approaches in teaching and to be able to use the techniques and procedures effectively.

Thus, it is necessary to bring their training up-to-date. They should as well encourage independent thinking and free communication of ideas among the students concerned using the tools of expressions acquired in the English class because this is the eventual aim of language teaching.

To the first year teachers assigned to teach pilot classes as formative years in first year, it may enable them to realize that they should understand evaluation and procedures with emphasis on experimental viewpoints and learning approaches not only them as teachers but also their students so they can integrate with their own teaching and testing. More significantly, they will realize that in fairness to their students, they should test what they teach.       

The secondary freshmen as student-entrants will ameliorate based on the structured lessons and differ mentally according to the departmentalized lessons, advanced lessons and general performance based also on their intellectual aspects of learning.

Finally, it will enable the students in general to grasp at the innovative teaching-learning approaches shared with them not only by the teachers but

also by the freshmen pilot class in terms of the four (5) areas of English communications, namely, listening, speaking, reading, writing and viewing as sequenced in the lessons. Thus, the school should initiate and institute a re-training program for the students as the training ground for them to go for the next higher level.

Along with final exams and college entrance tests, many high school students are facing additional standardized testing with their Advanced Placement courses.  These courses enable high school students to take introductory college level courses as part of their high school curriculum.  AP courses entail additional reading, in depth analysis, and involve more course material at a higher level than high school honors courses.  In May of each year, students nationwide take AP Examinations to prove their mastery of the subjects they have studied.  Yet, with the amount preparation that students must execute for college entrance, do they really need to take another round of tests?

By better understanding college admission criteria, a student can realize how Advanced Placement courses are regarded when they are in a pool of applicants being considered for admission. Mr. Scott Atherton, Assistant Director of Admissions at Middlebury College in Vermont gives an important insight.   “We look favorably upon students taking AP or other such courses offered by their school.  Middlebury, like many colleges and universities in the U.S. evaluates a candidate for admission using many criteria, one being degree of difficulty of curriculum. We like to see that a student has challenged himself or herself by taking some of the more challenging courses the school has to offer. In some cases, that may be AP or IB courses. Some schools do not offer AP courses, and of course we would not hold that against a student; we evaluate a candidate’s strength of curriculum in the context of that student’s school’s offerings.”

            Along with AP courses, Mr. Atherton acknowledges in his statement the IB or International Baccalaureate courses as advanced high school curriculum.  While some high schools offer college level coursework with AP classes, other high schools offer college level coursework using the IB curriculum. They are equally considered as advanced opportunities for high school students. 

If AP or IB courses are available in your high school, a college may expect you to accept the challenge to prove that you are academically motivated and ready for a competitive environment.  Taking these courses show that you care to put in the extra work, do the extra reading and prepare for the examination.   This spring, I took my first AP examination as a sophomore in Ancient European History.  Although the preparation was enormous, I believe that I gained organizational habits and test skills that will follow me into my college career.  No teenager is a fan of standardized tests.  But, because students are applying to college come from different schools all over the country, AP courses are another way for colleges to measure a student’s curriculum objectives and their eagerness to succeed in high level courses.

1. Naruto/Naruto Shippuuden, A story about a teenager in the  world of ninjas. He has a fox demon sealed inside of him and he has to learn how to control and use it’s power.

Rated:8-Above. Has some violence, fairly low adult content (women bathing with mist to cover).

2.Bleach: A story about soul reapers/death gods, Ichigo has to stop the hollow (evil spirits) and release the good spirits to Soul Society (heaven). Goes deeper than this but is the starting plot. 

Rated: 9-Above Has violence (a little more serious than Naruto). No adult content.

3. One Piece: A story of pirates in which a cheerful pirate (he is a “good” pirate who helps people and goes pirating for the adventure) named Luffy is in search of the One Piece, the treasure of the world.

Rated:11-Above. Has some violence. Some adult content (reveling clothing, women bathing ). 

4. Rosario + VampireRosario + Vampire Capu2: A student  mistakenly gets sent to a school for monsters in which the monsters are learning how to live peacefully with humans. The student falls in love with a girl who is a vampire (her real self is sealed with a rosary). However other girls start liking him too falling into a love rival type of thing with some action. 

Rated 14-Above: Has some violence, Moderate Adult Content (Panties frequently shown, reveling clothing, sexual scenes).

5.High School of the Dead: Zombies invade! A group of friends band together to survive in the new zombie world. With a quest to find their relatives. 

Rated 14-Above: Gore, blood, violence. Some adult content (panties shown frequently, reveling clothing, breasts shown through clothing. 

6. Full Metal Alchemist(and Brother Hood series): A boy becomes a state alchemist with a quest to find the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s stone which ignores the alchemist law of equivalent trade to get their bodies back from which were taken when they tried to bring their mother back to life but failed as they did not provide trade in which the alchemy took Ed’s leg and arm and his little brother’s (Al) body. However Ed barely made it in time to put Al’s soul into a suit of armour.

Rated:9-Above: Some violence, some gore, blood, no adult content. 

More than enough times, I have seen students–my own classmates, friends–do things to “look good” for college. They traveled to Haiti so they would be recognized as benevolent; they fundraised for food banks so that colleges would know that they were conscientious individuals. No, I will not argue against the fact that they had certainly gained valuable experiences from their efforts, nor that those who received their services were grateful, nor certainly, that their resumes were granted some nice decorations. And no, I’m not being cynical–I have participated in such honorable activities with less than honorable intentions myself–and my classmates have openly admitted–and laughed–at their own pretensions. I remember an upperclassman, now a freshman at UPenn, smirk when I asked him about volunteering and reply that when it came to colleges, it was just the surface work that mattered.

Perhaps I have been extremely childish to even imagine the possibility that all the good work in this world could have been accomplished without any ulterior motives. Yet, this does not assuage my disappointment. I am at risk of sounding like a disillusioned naivete, yes, but I do wish that students like myself could be doing at least part of their “good deeds” for the sake of the intrinsic value of the deeds themselves, and not just because collegeboard prescribed so.

I wonder now, once we pass our still relatively sheltered stage of high school life, will we become yet more entrenched in this rule of surface scratching? Will the modest deeds done out of pure goodwill continue to be outshone by the better marketed acts of that ostensible sort?

I do not wish to make accusations here, nor be hypocritical. Simply, I wonder, is there anyone who still truly gives without expecting anything in return?

The high school is done and you have decided to study. The first day has come, the first study day. Many have arrived several days earlier in a new city, in a new apartment and so often really know anyone. The city is new, the people are new, the whole of life is new.

The usual take on the hands or in school at that time is over. Now you have to take care of everything yourself, do not miss important deadlines, put together his own schedule, when do you prove what, and much more. If you stand in the crowd of countless students in the university must be unique, just look at the faces to see who is new here, whos a suffocation. Because this whole sting questioning faces, almost helplessly out.

This hysterical running around and encourages questions already older than one student at fairly, though it has already started so then. But as nice an experienced student helps you be happy or are even tutorials. To learn countless new people to know many of which you hold only a fraction of names in memory.

The flood of information is in the first few weeks can be enormous, and much to be desired orientation. After the first few weeks it has settled down quite well and we find pleasure in the new phase of life and is more and more independent. After two semesters, then come the new Erstis and you can put yourself in their position well and calms their minds, which would mean its all so stressful. You feel like an old pro already then, although still considered beginners.

I admit I had a rough time and things finally fell a part with my mom when I lived with her. She started loosing everything one by one and I didn’t know what to do. By the time this happened, I was working that temporary training job at the hospital that only paid $7.25 an hour. The doctors were arrogant even if you asked them a simple question and the rest of the staff were no better. The other staff seemed okay when I first started out, but when it came close to me leaving that job, I knew some of their true colors. The only guy who I didn’t really hate that much was the old man I worked with filing the medical records. He wasn’t that bad and it turns out he served in Vietnam so he’s seen a lot of stuff. He was also in rehab before he landed the job.

With all this being said, I realized that true happiness isn’t going to come from a job. Even if you pursue a higher education and land a good paying job, you can still be miserable. Some of my relatives are like this and I realize what others don’t want to see. Someone once said this on TV, “if you don’t fulfill your dream, then your dream will die with you.” I couldn’t agree more and I realized that I’m not going to let my dream die with me. Martin Luther King didn’t so why should I? I’m going to follow my dreams instead of doing what everyone expects me to do. The only thing I really do regret when living with my mother is having a game plan. I knew I was going to graduate high school soon and I wished that I did things differently. I realize that I can’t change the past and can only move forward. This is the same message I tell to everyone out there in the world, “you can’t change the past, but you can change your future.” The only one who can change your destiny is you and it starts today. Follow your dreams with God speed. 

As for me, the New Year is coming and I realize that I’m going to put all my goals in gear and follow through. I just pray to God to let it be so. I hope anyone else who’s reading this realize what they want in life and follow through with it. We all have incredible potential in the world.