| THE PERSONAL HOMEPAGE OF...... | |||||||||||||||||
| HEATHER DANILOVICS | Education/ Professional Goals and Interests. | ||||||||||||||||
MY NAME IS HEATHER DANILOVICS.WHILE AWAY FROM COLLEGE I LIVE IN SHARON, PENNSYLVANIA. I ATTEND INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, MAJORING IN ENGLISH EDUCATION. I PLAN TO EVENTUALLY OBTAIN A MASTER'S DEGREE IN ENGLISH, WRITING/LITERATURE AND TEACH AT A UNIVERSITY. MY PERSONAL INTERESTS INCLUDE: SINGING, DANCING AND SWIMMING. I HAVE BEEN A LIFEGUARD AND WATER SAFETY INSTRUCTOR FOR 4 YEARS. I BELIEVE THAT ALONG WITH MY INTERESTS IN READING AND WRITING, BEING A SAFETY INSTRUCTOR IS WHAT SPARKED ME TO GET INTO EDUCATION. ABOVE IS A PICTURE OF MY FAMILY DURING CHRISTMAS OF 1998. As one can see I am definately a people person. Perhaps my favorite people are my loving family members. I have two younger siblings, and we all live at home as of now with my parents. My parents names are Darrell and Lynda, and I owe a large fraction of my success to them. Other than my family I have a few other favorites.... Favorite Actor: Adam Sandler Favorite Actress: Claire Daynes Favorite Band: Smashing Pumpkins Favorite Other Band: Hole, especially Courtney Love. Favorite Food: Thin pizza with black olives!\ Favorite Beer: Lite Ice/ Miller Lite-email me with any ideas how to obtain more at less!!!1 Best Loved Individuals: The other Danilovics Family George, Brian, Aunt Brenda, and Uncle George!1 Best Loved Book: To Kill a Mockingbird Best Loved Poem: Phenominal Woman, Maya Angelou Favorite Saying: Love is Blind Favorite Pasttime: Hiking, Canoeing, Camping and Rock Repelling. |
My Education began at Case Avenue Elementary School in Sharon PA. I then attended 7-12 grade at Sharon High School. I was always interested in communication and began IUP as a Speech Pathology/Audiology Major. Recently upon much contemplation I changed my major to English Education. I am doing quite well with the major, and taking a number of English and Education courses. One course Fe 202 American Education Theory, has allowed me to choose an area of focus for this semester. The are that I chose was black language acquisition, better known as Ebonics. Throughout much research, and interviews I have completed Phase I and II of my final project. At the end of my research, my Phases will be I-IV. This study has helped me focus a great deal on language. I have found a number of interesting facts and research. One can do many interesting things with a major in English Education. I plan to finish IUP with a bachelors degree and head off to graduate school. I am very interested in becoming a professor of English/Writing. I plan in the future to begin writing my own novels, and spark my students to write daily. I plan to eventually pick up a minor in Women's Studies to satisfy my feminist ideals. Currently, I feel that I have a strong background in English Literature and Writing. My only goal is to continually pursue my long term ambition to become a professor and to write for the rest of my life. I plan to change the world beginning with my own classroom by continually educating myself, educating my students and breaking the bogus stereotypes that hold our future down each day!!!!!!!!11 | ||||||||||||||||
| Current Excerpt from Ebonics Research. | |||||||||||||||||
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Phase II. Ebonics Research Throughout Phase II many concepts have arisen that are of extreme importance to my ongoing study of black English. Many of these concepts have put me at a difficult stage in my research. Entering my study with one opinion, I have recently grasped another. The importance of this study is clear to me, but many implications have arisen. Due to the controversial nature of this study, I am depending on many others' opinions on the Ebonics issues, but very little facts. However, through the two books aiding my research, and the Internet Articles that I have been reading; I have found many perpetual concepts that are not only the focus of my research, but the main ideas. I have also found many professional linguists with great reasoning. The main reason for my study is based upon, a problem with our students. If one could focus their attention to their own children for a moment Ebonics becomes a much clearer picture! If we as English speaking natives landed int he middle of London, and were forced to be educated in its' dialect which is English, but a very distinct form; many of us would not be quite as scholarly. I view Ebonics with the previous example in mind. Throughout our nation's public schools the scenario is very familiar The academic performance of most poor, black students is an embarrassing one. There is an obvious gap between black and white students. A school system study last year showed that black students had the lowest grade point average in the Oakland district. The average G.P.A. was a 1.8 on a 4.0 scale (Sanchez). This particular study denotes an obvious problem. Prior to focusing exclusively on the language differentiation, I discovered a bery important underlying issue. This issue focuses on who exactly is teaching these black students. Studies have found that while the population of diverse teachers within our districts is decreasing, making most of the teaching population white (Mc Kay). This exclusively white teaching population has lead to a certain amount of racism. Racism is something that in my opinion has no place in the classroom of the 90's. An example of this took place in the Ann Arbor, Michigan district, where 12 students battled the school district in court. These children and their attorneys' general complaint was that the black students were not givent the opportunity to learn. Rather than dealing with their diverse language and culture, many teachers allegedly dismissed black students as undeucable. School officials had improperly placed these children in learning disability classrooms and speech pathology classes. They also suspended, disciplined, and repeatedly retained the children at grade level without taking into account their social, economic and cultural differences (Linn 131). The Ann Arbor case is only one that we have caught. This unjust treatment happens everyday, putting children at risk of becoming functionally illiterate. This one case inparticular brings us to try to identify this complex issue. This piece is just an excerpt from the 5 Phase research study being done for my Fe 202 American Ed Theory class. This Site is continually under construction Thanks for Visiting!!!!!!!!1 | |||||||||||||||||
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