Movie Review Coco Essay Example

Movie Review: Coco Essay Few film production companies could imagine that an animated film with death as its center would appeal to a wide audience. The question posed at the heart of Coco, the latest Pixars film is if a person can honor his family along with pursuing his dreams. The film whirls around an aspiring 12-year-old Mexican boy Miguel Rivera (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) who dreams of becoming a musician, against the fact that his family proscribed music after his great-great-grandfather left his family for music. Despite the familys hatred for music, Miguel covertly plays guitar and covets to become a popular musician like Ernesto De La Cruz. On Dia de Muertos(Day of the Dead), Miguel fights with his family about performing in a local music talent show, which doesnt go well with music-loathing Riveras and especially his abuelita (voiced by Renee Victor), who gets agitated and smashes Miguels guitar like a pinata. After fighting with his family, Miguel finds himself a guitar in the tomb of his idol, Ernesto De La Cruz(voiced by Benjamin Bratt), a well-known musician. Without realizing a thing, Miguel robs a guitar from the crypt and plays it, which gets him transported to the Land of the Dead. The films about how he returns back to the world of the living and his adventures in the land of the dead. Stunning visuals with sophisticatedly ordered and intensely striking storytelling being the trademarks of the best movies of Pixar Animation Studios, Coco will also thrill the audience with Pixars usual verve and style. The land of the dead with skeletons walking and talking with a glaze of fluorescent flower petals paved upon the streets is visually appealing. This whole imaginative journey in the land of the dead is full of mindblowing sights and creatures which is worth getting lost in. The brilliant, colorful visuals and a mysterious chain of adventures that happen throughout the film is what makes Coco interesting like other Disney-Pixar films. We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Review: Coco specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Review: Coco specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Review: Coco specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

Is the College Board Mismanaging the AP Program

Is the College Board Mismanaging the AP Program SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The College Board AP program is commonly viewed as the gold standard of curriculum for high school students. An AP class is meant to replicate the experience of an introductory college course, and high scores on AP exams can potentially lead to college credit. Students often take AP classes to impress colleges with their academic prowess in high school. But how is the program doing overall? Are students really benefiting that much? In this article, I'll discuss the College Board's management of the AP program over time and how its positive and negative aspects affect students nationwide. History of the AP Program The College Board AP program is now comprised of 38 courses that span a variety of different subject areas including the arts, sciences, math, world language and culture, English, and the humanities.The popularity of AP classes and exams has grown rapidly over time.Nearly 4.5 million AP tests were administered in 2015to 2.5 million students at 21,594 schools across the country.The program began in the 1950s following concerns about the transition between high school and college-level work. Several studies were conducted through the Fund for the Advancement of Education, which recommended that high schools and colleges work together to avoid repeating coursework and allow high school students to advance more quickly when appropriate.It was suggested that exams be administered that would give students the ability to earn college credit while still in high school. A study by a group called the Committee on Admission with Advanced Standing devised a plan for high schools to implement college-level curriculum in certain classes.Educators and administrators from colleges were recruited to help with the formulation of appropriate standards that colleges would deem acceptable as a basis for granting credit to high school students. The first AP pilot program began in 1952 with courses in 11 different subjects.In the school year of 1955-56, the College Board took over the administration of the program, and it was officially named the College Board Advanced Placement Program.In the 1960s, the College Board expanded the mission of the program to include teacher training for AP classes; many teachers responded well to this and felt it was a step forward for their careers. In the next couple of decades, more and more high schools began adding AP classes to their curriculum (over 5,000 schools by 1980).The College Board also added other parts to the AP program to help teachers standardize curriculum across grade levels and prepare younger students to take on high school and college, including Pre-AP and AP Vertical Teams. Now, AP courses and exams are considered to be the highest standard of secondary school education by most colleges. Students can generally earn college credit by scoring 3s, 4s, or5s on the exams, though the exact requirements vary byschool. I can't wait to go to the Sock Hop after my AP Test! The College Board's Management of the AP Program The goal of the AP program has always been to challenge advanced high school students and prepare them for college academics.This is a great idea, but the program is not without its flaws.I’ll go over a few of the issues with AP and its management by the College Board along with some positive steps the College Board has taken to improve the program. Positive Aspects of the College Board AP Program Over the years, the College Board has promoted favorable research studies on the AP program that show its effectiveness in helping students prepare for and succeed in college. In expanding the program to more and more schools, the College Boardaims to give all students who are academically prepared the ability to take college-level classes in high school, no matter their socioeconomic status. The College Board works to identify students who have the potential to succeed in AP courses and makes an effort to bring the program to their high schools to give them more opportunities. In its 10th Annual Report to the Nation on the AP program, the College Board cites research that has shown high AP scores to be reliable predictors of success in college. Students who score 3s or higher on AP exams tend to earn higher college GPAs, perform better in follow-up college courses in the same disciplines, and are more likely to graduate college within five years than students who don't take APs. The College Board has also taken positive steps to respond to feedback and improve courses that may need revamping. It continually collects data from universities to ensure that all courses include information that's in step with the latest research and reflects introductory college material. The design of the courses and exams is a collaboration between college faculty members and AP teachers. In the next couple of years, the College Board will implement changes to a number of AP subject areas including AP Calculus and AP World History. It also plans to add more courses to the AP program to expand its reach and give students more opportunities. The College Board is conscious of other issues with the program, including racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps. It has extensively documented states' progress in closing these gaps and has advised school districts on strategies to combat these issues, including reducing the financial burden of AP classes by lowering or eliminating fees for students who qualify, providing more support to AP teachers, establishing strong fundamentals in younger grades, and encouraging students who show potential to take AP classes. This is important to keep in mind while reading the next sections; though I will list some negatives of the program, the College Board is taking steps towards fixing many of its issues. The College Board is open to changes to the AP program to make it more effective. You'll get your way this time, sentient clouds. NegativeAspects of the College Board AP Program In recent years, somestudies have emerged that dispute the value of the AP program.Though the tests are consistent and do provide some value (especially in math and science subjects), the AP courses themselves lack consistency.Teacher training resources are loosely provided, but the methods and quality of teaching in AP classes are not standardized across the board. Most criticism of the AP program is aimed at itsrapid expansion into unprepared schools.The College Board’s goal is to get as many students to take AP classes and tests as possible, but the College Board's measures of student readiness are not always accurate, so this often leads to students taking classes that they can't handle. Pushing the AP program into more and more schools also costs millions in federal and state money, which goes towards subsidizing exam fees for low-income students and promoting the classes.With a large percentage of students failing the exams, thisinvestment of money and time is potentially very wasteful. The overall pass rate for AP exams in 2012 was only 57 percent, with 22 percent of exams earning 1s (the lowest possible score). The pressure to incorporate AP programs at low-income schools may cause these schools to make ill-advised decisions to bring in the programs at the expense of more basic student needs.A small subset of students may get a better educational experience, but it can lead to worse outcomes for other students not participating in the program. There is also little evidence to suggest that taking AP classes helps students to save money on college or graduate early.Few students will earn enough AP credits to cover a full semester of college, and many colleges only use AP scores to place students out of introductory courses without giving them actual credits.Evidence does point to greater success in college by students who take AP classes, but these students are also self-selected as the most driven and tend to attend wealthier high schools. It’s debatable the role that the AP program itself plays in student success when it’s combined with so many other factors.In certain studies, when these factors have been controlled for, the advantages supposedly conferred by AP classes completely disappear.The College Board's efforts to expand the AP program to disadvantaged students might be beneficial in theory, but in reality many schools could use help on improving their current curriculum before adding AP.Even at high-performing schools, the rush to take as many AP classes as possible for students’ transcripts has made these classes more of a symbolic marker of achievement than an important educational milestone. I’ll give more details on main criticisms of the program in the next section. If there's a shaky foundation, it's hard to succeed at a higher level. The AP Cairns curriculum has a lot of flaws. Biggest Criticisms of the AP Program Some criticisms of the AP program emerged in tandem with the immense growth in participating schools.With increased competition in college admissions, the merits of AP classes are a point of contention for educators at both the high school and college levels.I’ll give a basic rundown of the most common criticisms here. You can read more about these issues by consulting this article, which goes into greater detail on major problems with the AP Program. Criticism #1: Reinforcement of Education Inequality Students from wealthier school districts get better scores on AP tests because they are better prepared and have a better support system.Well-funded schools have more success at implementing AP programs overall.Since colleges often consider AP scores and students’ record of taking AP classes in the admission process, lower income students are put at even more of a disadvantage as the AP program continues to perpetuate existing inequalities. Althoughthe College Board is proud of its initiatives to bring AP classes to low-income schools, these schools have a hard time implementing AP programs effectively.Fewer students pass AP tests at low-income schools.All of this simply reinforces the current state of affairs in education; poor students fall farther behind, and wealthy students get farther ahead. If the AP Program really wants to help prepare all students for college academics, it may have to provide extra support to teachers and students in low-income schools.Some colleges have already stopped considering APs as a significant factor in admissions decisions partially because of these issues with unfairness and inconsistency in course quality. The AP program might make existing inequalities even more significant. Criticism #2: Superficial Learning Experiences AP classes cover a lotof ground in a short period of time, and some educators argue that this creates a surface-level exploration of each subject that doesn’t always teach students vital critical thinking skills.Many AP classes force students to do a lot of memorization, and they can't compete with the depth of real college courses. It's impossible for teachers to delve into a subject extensively when they have to cover so much material, so classes can end up just skimming over the tops of important concepts. This is partially an issue with the fundamental structure of classes, but it can sometimes be overcome through the influence of a great teacher at a well-funded school. Unfortunately, teaching quality and availability of resources is inconsistent. Even though the College Board has worked to emphasize hands-on learning and inquiry over drilling of facts, variableteacher capabilities and limited school resources can make thisswitch difficult.Underfunded schools may not have lab facilities that will accommodate new requirements in AP science classes.Teachers also may not be able to adapt easily to new methods of instruction if they don’t receive extensive training. While AP classes teach students many of the same facts that they would learn in an introductory college course, they have a ways to go in teaching analytical skills at the college level.As I mentioned above, there is now a rush amonghigh-achieving students to take as many AP classes as possible, which leads to further degradation of the learning experience. Students are stretching themselves too thin just to look good for elite colleges. Too much AP toast for a limited supply of brain peanut butter. Criticism #3: Program Growth and Achievement Growth Mismatch The AP program takes pride in its growth over the years, but the vast increase in the number of schools offering the program has come with a corresponding increase in failing test scores. Some critics arguethat the AP program has reached a point of â€Å"diminishing returns.† As AP programs expand rapidly, schools that don’t have as many resources struggle to keep pace. Many new AP programs at low-income schools lack the proper support and guidance, and this has led to more failing test scores.There are some schools where no student earns even a 3 on an AP test, the minimum qualifying score. This was the case at four high-poverty high schools in Washington, D.C. in 2013.Teachers are pushed into the program without proper training and resources, and, again, federal money is spent on introducing AP while neglecting more basic issues of educational inequality. The AP program has taken some wrong turns. Conclusion The AP program has been around since the 1950s, and in recent years it has expanded rapidly to administer millions of tests to students in high schools across the country.As the program has gained popularity, however, its effectiveness has been called into question.The College Board stands by the AP program, maintaining that it is the best way for advanced students to get a head start on college course material and bridge the academic gap between high school and college. While students who do well in AP classes also tend to perform well in college, this is could be the result of other corresponding factors.Students who take many APs are usually more driven overall, and they often attend well-funded high schools.Criticisms of the AP program include its reinforcement of the divide between rich and poor students in the college admissions process, the superficiality of its curriculum, and the increased test failure rates with the expansion of the program into more and more schools.It remains unclear how the AP program will change in the future, but if it continues to expand, hopefully the College Board will revise its curriculum and policies to help all students get more out of their AP experiences. What's Next? You've probably heard about both AP exams and SAT Subject Tests, but you might not know the exact differences between the two. Read this article to find out which type of test is more important for your college applications. Are you still planning out your schedule for upcoming school years? Learn how to register for AP tests and classes at your high school. If you're unsure whether the AP program is a worthwhile use of your time, check out this guide to learn if you should really take AP classes. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Reflection - Essay Example The accent has to be on what one has learnt measured against the outcomes for that particular course. This forms the basis for the paper and what I have learnt as far as the requirements for the degree are concerned. As I reflect on the learning’s and the way in which the course has been taught, I feel that the course has equipped me with several skills that can be used in any real world setting. Apart from the theoretical foundations of what I have learnt, the practical skills that I have picked up would stand me in good stead. The course outcomes are geared towards preparing us for positions of leadership in educational and non-profit sectors with the expectation that we would be able to fulfill the roles in these sectors to the satisfaction of the stakeholders. As with any program that prepares students for managerial roles, the learning outcomes for this degree are tailored in such a way so as to equip us with analytical and problem solving skills. That is the bottom line requirement for this course and one that I hope I have mastered to a certain extent. This particular outcome relates to the analysis and use of data about the student community in decision making and its subsequent use by the teachers in forming opinions and perceptions of the students that they teach. The outcomes from this course for me have been training in researching data about students and applying them to aid in decision making. I have benefited enormously from this particular outcome as the course taught me to bridge the gap between theory and practical application. The gap between theory and practice has to be bridged and one can aspire to be a leader in any field only when they have successfully mastered the art of applying theory to real world scenarios. I have learnt to use several models of decision making and the inputs that go into each of them along with the necessary tools that aid them. As I have mentioned before, applying research data to real world models