Wednesday, April 28 Presentations

I thought Maggie's presentation about disproportionality in special education was very well done. She definitely included a lot of information that helped explain all aspects of her topic. I thought it was especially helpful that she explained why disproportionality is a problem and the solutions that can help to solve it. I think that she should keep the information about the history of segregation and inequality in school systems to help her lead into the rest of her paper.
Colleen's presentation was interesting in that she included various facts that provided a good overview of deaf communication and expression. Her focus on natural gestures, learned gestures, and brain functioning provide the main focuses of the body of her paper. I thought it was really cool when she told us that signing requires flipping images 180 degrees. I would have never realized that had she not told us. It is really unique that she is relating her topic to education through her explanation of the different learning process that takes place in individuals who are deaf.
I thought Eric talked about a lot of facts and statistics pertaining to regulations for student athletes that he could use in his paper to help him strengthen his arguement. As far as "fairness" goes, I think he should define what he means by the term "fair" in his paper, since I feel that something being "fair" or not is more of an opinion than a fact. In his paper he could also explain why it isn't "fair" that student athletes aren't paid for their athletic abilities. He could also explain more about the scholarships that they do recieve, and back up his arguement that they should also get paid for their ability besides receiving money toward their education. He could also include something at the end of his paper about future plans or suggestions to make the regulations of student athletes more "fair." Eric seemed very passionate about his topic and it showed in his presentation.