The Silent Epidemic Analysis

I think that the critiques described by the students in “The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts" are based on many factors that can be attributed to the classroom instruction but also the students’ levels of motivation. In my experience so far in the high school classroom, I have had many students who are just trying to do the absolute least amount of work possible to get by and I know this because only many occasions, I have been asked, “What’s the least I have to do to make a passing grade?” As a teacher, I spend a great deal of time and effort designing my instruction for my course with the intention that my students will be highly motivated, engaged, and interested in the content. I believe that this also takes effort on the part of the student to really invest in the content and activities that are designed for their engagement. I do think that some students do actually experience a less than gratifying high school experience because of the type of instruction that they receive in the classroom.
Students must understand that in anything that they do, they get what they put into it. I say this to mean that if they put minimal effort into their high school experience and education, then they will not get as much out of it as schools intent. Teachers need to take the time to think of the content through the eyes of the student in order to determine what will peak their interest the most. This can be the incorporation of more videos showing the content in action, demonstration or lab experiences, or even acting out the parts in a story. Each student is going to have a different interest and I think that this takes us back to differentiation. Reaching all our students requires us to provide them with choices and options that will allow them to express their selves while learning the content and being interested in the