AI Generated image of robot in library

Please Click Here to Read My Annotated Bibliography: Annotated Bibliography ENG160

 

Source:
Meltzer, Lisa J. et al. “Start Later, Sleep Later: School Start Times and Adolescent Sleep in
Homeschool Versus Public/Private School Students.” Behavioral Sleep Medicine, vol.
14, no, 2, Mar. 2016, pp.140-154. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/15402002.2014.963584.

Summary:
In the article titled “Start Later, Sleep Later: School Start Times and Adolescent Sleep in
Homeschool Versus Public/Private School Students,” Lisa Meltzer and her team, all medical
doctors, studied the sleep differences between homeschooled students with students at
private/public schools. Meltzer et al.’s article appeared in the scholarly journal Behavioral Sleep
Medicine in 2016. They say that home-schooled children/teens often wake up for the day when
many private/public-school students have already begun their school day. As a result,
homeschooled students sleep almost an hour more than their peers and private/public school
students wind up with a “sleep debt” of about four hours at the end of the week (Meltzer et al.
149). According to the study, numerous factors play a role in children/teens having bad sleeping
habits. For instance, students who had a lot of homework and/or used technology before bed had
later bedtimes. Another aspect of the study focused on students who started their school day
later and how this impacted their everyday lives. The researchers eventually conclude that later
start times have a positive impact on young adults and children as they need the extra sleep to
mature (Meltzer et al. 140-154).

Evaluation/ Reflection:
I found this article reliable since the authors are all doctors who have done a lot of
research on the sleep habits of children and adolescents. One of the most important keys to
having a well-developed child or teenager is helping them to develop a healthy sleep
schedule. Their data shows that later school start times benefit teenagers as they are much
better prepared to learn since they are not as tired. The data from this article will make my
argument for later start times at my former high school much stronger as it comes from a
peer-reviewed experiment. In my opinion, being tired in school puts a student behind as they
are too tired to focus, particularly in their early-morning classes. This can have a negative
impact on a student’s grades and overall development.

Source:
Wahlstrom, Kyla L. “Later Start Time for Teens Improves Grades, Mood, and Safety.” Phi
Delta Kappan, vol. 98, no. 4, Dec. 2016, pp. 8–14. EBSCOhost,
doi:10.1177/0031721716681770.

Summary:
Kyla L. Wahlstrom, an instructor at the University of Minnesota, wrote the article “Later
Start Time for Teens Improves Grades, Mood, and Safety” to explain why schools should
have later start times. This article was published in the journal Phi Delta Kappan in 2016.
Wahlstrom has been teaching well over thirty years and has seen thousands of students who
are too tired to learn. According to her study, schools that moved start times later saw
“significant increases in grade point averages in first period core courses” (Wahlstrom 11). In
addition, she touches upon how early morning commutes can put adolescents in danger as
they are new to driving and how students who lack sleep are more likely to engage in risky
behavior such as smoking and drinking. Then, she addresses the counter-argument that if high
schools start later, this will mean that after-school activities might have to be cancelled or
pushed back into the early evening. Wahlstrom refutes this argument by providing a solution
to the problem. She says by using the new technology and learning websites, schools can
remove a class period or two and assign online work instead. By doing this, high schools can
start later but end at the usual time, so that clubs and teams can meet. Throughout the article,
Wahlstrom argues that pushing back start times benefits adolescents in a variety of ways (8-
14).

Evaluation/ Reflection:
After reading this article by Kyla L. Wahlstrom, I now support pushing start times back even
more. Because of educational technology, high schools could certainly cancel a few classes
assign online work. I think this would work especially well for older high school students,
who can work independently online. Wahlstrom’s counter argument and solution is one that
will make my essay even stronger. I am glad I came across her article.