Practice Reflection and Rhetorical Analysis and Quotes- Anthony Clara

Part 3: Reflection

I agree with the information the author “Wendy Berlin” presents, because she’s not only giving you her opinion on why “Schools Are Killing Curiosity” but she’s also stating facts and giving you evidence from other authors. What I learned from the text was children are born curious and that teachers need to lean more on developing curiosity and how it can be even more important. I also learned that curious children perform best and that the number of questions a toddler can ask can seem infinite and that we should be emphasising curiosity more. The article also says that researchers children at the age of 14 months to five years old found they ask a averge of 107 questions an hour. I strongly agree with the quote on the article where it says “American researchers in 2013 were found less to be curious, because they saw curiosity as a risk to their results.” The reason why I agree is because a lot of the times chlidren and students are afraid to ask a question because their either going to get shut down or stopped. For example when Zoe asked a question and she got stopped from her teacher because it had nothing to do with the lesson, this is an example why children and students think their questions are a risk to their result. If I can ask the author a couple of question I would ask what inspire her to write this article? Did she go something like this growing up? What are the results today? Did you see or hear any chnage after you published your article?

Part 4: Rhetorical Analysis

The author “Wendy Berlin” tone and attitude towards this article is she seems to be very intrigue about the topic, because she’s giving you all these kinds of sources and other’s input about why “Schools Are Killing Curiosity.” Wendy Berlin’s motive of writing this article is to spread awareness to not only teachers and parents but to everyone. Her target audience are people around the world who come across her article and I dont believe there is a specfic audience she’s targetting, I believe it’s for anyone. The genre of this article is a feature piece. She’s gatthering all these points and information and putting it into one and explaining and trying to make people know why “Schools Are Killing Curiosity.” She’s also trying to make awareness to people.

Part 5: Notable Quotables

“The study’s lead researcher, Dr Prachi Shah, a developmental and behavioural paediatrician at Mott and an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan, says: “Promoting curiosity in children, especially those from environments of economic disadvantage, may be an important, under-recognised way to address the achievement gap. Promoting curiosity is a foundation for early learning that we should be emphasising more when we look at academic achievement.” ( Dr Prachi Shah)

“When teachers teach young children not to ask questions, it is not surprising that high-performing students studied by American researchers in 2013 were found to be less curious, because they saw curiosity as a risk to their results. The questions they asked were aimed at improving their results, whereas the questions asked by more curious students were aimed at understanding a topic more deeply.” (Engel professor of developmental psychology at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts)

“Yet the latest American research suggests we should be encouraging questions, because curious children do better. Researchers from the University of Michigan CS Mott Children’s Hospital and the Center for Human Growth and Development investigated curiosity in 6,200 children, part of the US Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. The study is highlighted in a new book by Judith Judd and me, How to Succeed at School. What Every Parent Should Know.” (Wendy Berlin)