Paper #3 Rough Draft

Paper #3- Critiquing Education

Finland has one of the best education systems in the world. They have a 93% high school graduation rate while the US only has a 75% graduation rate. They require all of their teachers to have master's degrees and they only let the top 10% of graduates teach each year. On the other hand almost any teacher can begin teaching right away in the US; and then, if they turn out to be a bad teacher, they can not be fired because of tenure. I also believe that the current teacher's union helps prevent better teachers from getting jobs. The most important change that needs to be made in the K-12 curriculum is the teachers, both the quality of them and the rules and benefits that go with the job.

The first step that must be taken in order to improve the overall quality of education for the students is to evaluate every teacher over the course of a school year. It will most likely take many years to evaluate every single teacher, but it needs to be done so we know exactly what teachers are actually able to help the students. The teachers would be monitored on their skills and progress and the students can give feedback on the teachers. In the article, Against School, John Gatto talks about how one of the biggest problems for students is that they are bored in class. Good teachers can keep the students engaged in the lessons which results in the students learning more information. The teacher Mr. Escalante from Stand and Deliver would fit Gatto's guidelines and would score in the top percentage of teachers being evaluated. He was very passionate about teaching and set high expectations for his students while making the lessons interesting for them. He used real world examples for some of the problems which made it more interesting for the students, the jiggolo and his hoes. He may have gone against normal protocol at times but the students learned math and enjoyed him as a teacher. 

After all of the teachers were evaluated, then the teacher's union will need to be completely reformed. Everyone who currently holds a position of power in the union will be replaced with the teachers who scored highest on the evaluation. In the movie Waiting for Superman the teachers said that biggest obstacle to fixing the quality of education was the teacher's union. The union is not necessarily a bad thing, but it prevents good teachers from being paid more and it helps bad teachers keep their jobs. The union supports tenure which prevents teachers from being fired and is run by people who don't really know what's best for the majority of teachers and students. It is not fair to all of the students that have to deal with bad teachers. When Michelle Reid became the superintendent of the Washington DC schools she attempted to fire many bad teachers and principals, but she was unable to because of tenure. She then tried to make a deal with the teacher's union: if they would remove tenure, then she would increase the salary of all the good teachers to six digits. They refused to even vote on her proposal. Therefore the teacher's union need to be reformed if the quality of teachers is to improve which inturn would greatly improve the quality of education that the students receive.

After the teacher's union is reformed then we can try to propose another deal like Michelle Reid's to remove the tenure, or at least limit which teachers are protected by it. Then all of the bad teachers would receive pay cuts and be placed on probation until they improve while the good teachers will receive raises. The raises and pay cuts provide incentives for the teachers. If the teacher is happy, then they will most likely perform better and be able to teach the students more information. Lewis Black talks about a school that is worth half a billion dollars and questions the train of thought that led to that much money being spent on it. In the article Children, Arts, and Du Bois, Keith Gilyard talks about a humanities after school program for elementary kids and they all enjoy it, but it was discontinued because of budget cuts. Programs like that provide a creative outlet for the kids which eventually leads to them being more willing and able to learn during the school day. Also in the NEA article the author talks about a very successful program that helps Hispanic teenagers in high school. Although it wasn't canceled because of budget cuts it still shows how special programs in school can help the students succeed. If the money that is spent on making the school look nicer is instead spent on the teachers, then the teachers will be able to keep the after school and other programs going which improve the students overall performance.

Finally after all the bad teachers are fired or given a reason to improve we will need to make sure that the incoming teachers will be able to teach well. There will need to be a training program for the teachers before they can teach their own class. They can teach as an assistant for other teachers and current teachers can can give seminars for them on how to maintain control of the classroom and make sure that the students understand the information. In the movie Chalk it was Mr. Lowry's first year ever teaching. It was obvious that he was nervous and had no idea what he was doing. He kept apologizing to the students about stuff and they took advantage of his weakness. Towards the end of the year he became more confident in himself as a teacher and the students began to respect him, they even had a rap session with him. Throughout the year he was able to get a little bit of help from other teachers, but he was left mainly on his own. Most teachers who start out without being able to teach and that don't receive help will quit the job. 50% of teachers quit within their first 3 years of teaching; that is a lot of potential good teachers that quit because they feel lost and unable to control the students. If these teachers were to receive training before they actually began to teach then they would have a lot more confidence and the students that they taught in the first year would learn a lot more information.

Although it is not the teachers fault whether a students fails a class, a good or a bad teacher can still make a big difference on whether the students actually learned some new stuff. Some students just have a hard time learning information in one way and a good teacher will be able to help them while a bad teacher will ignore them and just continue passing them through, setting the student up to fail later on life. Therefore we need to get more better teachers into the classrooms and we can do this by providing raises for good teachers and offering more training for new teachers. Finland is a great example of how school should be and they are very successful in the education of their children. The success of the student ultimately comes down to whether they had good teachers or bad teachers and that is why we need to change the quality of teachers in our K-12 education system.

Paolo Friere

I agree with Friere that the narrative form of education is not very helpful, but only in higher levels of education. In elementary school it is very helpful, first the students learn the information then later they can understand it as their brain develops more and they gain more knowledge. For example proofs in geometry require you to start with a problem and an answer, then you have to write down each individual step to find the answer using properties. This helps you understand how it works and an elementary schooler would not understand. I believe that Friere's idea of communicative education is good. The more communication that goes on, the more you will learn. Also debating can help you learn a lot about a topic and it helps sharpen your mind.

Waiting for Superman Notes

Narrator is lucky because his kids get to go to a private school, other parents put their kids in a lottery to get into a good school. One kid lost his dad at a young age, all the kids that talk seem to want to learn. Teachers are trying to teach them. Little girl, daisy, wants to be a veterinarian. Everyone is trying to fix the education but fails. Money problem. Reading and Math scores have flatlined since 1971. Third largest overcorweded school, guarded by a desk and a security guard. Bianca's mother will do whatever she has to do to make her daughter able to go to college. Bush started the no child left behind and they started measuring children's basic education. Many states half less than a third of their students profficient in math, same wiht reading. worst skills for reading are in Washington DC. By the time daisy leaves middleschool only 13% of students will be profficient in math. Only 3 out of 100 students will graduate from her highschool with the ability to be admitted to a four year college. Over 2,000 droppout factories, elementary and middleschools send ill prepared students to highschool. People think that neighborhoods fail because the schools fail. 68% of inmates in pennsylvania are highschool dropouts. DC public schools have everything wrong with them. 2007 Michelle Reid began to try to fix the DC school district. She is the seventh superintendent of the DC schools in 10 years. There are over 14,000 autonomous school boards. The governement sets schools guidelines but then states set their own and they conflict. Studies show and parents believe that it all comes down to a good teacher. Students with high performing teachers progress almost 3 times as fast as a low performing teacher. A student took a video of teachers and students doing bad stuff in school. Public school teachers get atomatic tenure. Even horrible teachers are gaurenteed their jobs no matter what they do. NEA and TFK have given the most money to politics, 90% are democrat, to help the education system. People aren't allowed to talk about teacher unions. A ton of forms and deadlines required to fire a teacher and if they aren't met you must wait another year. Teachers say their biggest obstacle to real reform is the contract with the teacher union. In dysfunctional systems you see good people do weird things- dance of the lemons. Each principal tries to get rid of the bad teachers to a different school and they hope to get better teachers. New York has to pay teacher for 3 years while they are under trial even when they aren't working. Only 38 school districts in Illionois were able to fire a teacher, only 1 in 2500 teachers lose their credentials. In the 90s some communities began to all teachers to create charter schools. Schools must hold a lottery for limited space. Michelle Reid is goin to close many public schools and fire many teachers and principals. Only 1 in 5 charter school produce great results. Up until the 1970s American public schools were the best in the world. Since then the US has fallen into the 25 slot in the world. Americans rate #1 in confidence. Not all schools in fancy neighborhoods are very good. Some colleges have to remediate 50% of the freshmen to prepare them for college courses. 50 years agi the system of tracking was a good thing because they needed certain people for certain jobs, now schools haven't changed bu the rest of the workd has. Bill Gates testified before congress to try and fix the schools. There is an education gap between rich and poor children and nothing has changed it. One teacher realized her students could't remember the terms so she made rap songs out of them for the students. The top charter school are sending over 90% of their students on to 4 year colleges. KIPP Academy was named the highest performing middle school. Now there are 82 KIPP schools. Students at KIPP do better then everyone and shatter the myth about poor kids being unable to learn. Reid is trying to make a new contract with the teachers union, proposed that they can keep tenure or give it up and get more pay. Her proposal was rejected before they could even vote on it. It takes a lot of outrage and good examples to change the status quote.

Gilyard and NEA

These two articles passionately argue for something that the writers wish to see changed in schools. Unit 3 is about critiquing education and what would you change if you could in the education system. The essay for unit 3 will have to be persuasive and will have to illustrate why you believe that part of the curriculum should be changed. Both of these articles are very persuasive and provide many reasons that they believe the school curriculum should be changed. They are backed up with numbers and positive feedback of students who agree with the attempted changes. Also if someone was to write about the subject of humanities or Latino classes in the education system, then one of these articles would be an excellent example and source for that essay. Even if you don't choose one of those topics you can still use them as examples of how to organize the essay or in which ways to effectively use your arguments towards the change that you are promoting.

Mike Rose and Lewis Black

Black talked about a school that was half a billion dollars and made a comment about how a school shouldn't be the nicest building that you ever go into. I agree with him on this; school is a place to learn and it does not need to have a fancy park for students to learn. Although the school itself doesn't need to be super expensive, the school should have enough money to purchase the supplies necessary for giving the students a good education. He also criticizes the teachers and about how qualified they are for teaching (Tony Danza). In Finland only the top 10% of the graduating class of teachers each year are given jobs and they have a 93% high school graduation while the US is only at 75%. It just shows that schools need to rethink their staff and how they spend their money.
Rose also talks about how schools need good teachers. A good teacher will be able to teach the information to the students and keep them interested or engaged in the lessons. Some students do not want to learn just to know the information so a good teacher would help the student find a way to motivate themselves. He also talks about how standardized testing is bad because it sets one "gold standard" and makes everything else not as important. In the core classes I believe that the standardized test is the best thing because you cannot go out into the real world during high school and test what you learned. Now when students enter college or if they are in a non core academic class, then there may need to be a different way to measure the skill of the student.

Critiquing Education

Teachers Should have an air of confidence, even if they don't feel confident because it will help the students respect them and want to learn. At first the teacher may not know what to do but eventually they will learn how to act in a classroom because teaching takes practice like sports. Also teachers should be friends to provide support and to help new teachers and so that they can learn together. Also if the teachers worked together it would take care of many of the problems that they have with discipline and rules at the school. They should never lose their temper with a student or else they will lose power and respect. Their first job is to make sure the students learn the information and have some fun. If the teachers have higher expectations than the students will most likely rise to those expectations. Actually train the teachers and have meetings with other teachers to better learn how to teach. Teachers should try and teach, not get an award. Teachers need gray areas. Teaching salaries.

Chalk Notes

50% of teachers quit within their first 3 years of teaching. Some teachers don't know how to respond to some student comments or actions that are inappropriate. One teacher seems to be confident and the students are laughing and enjoying his class(Mr. Stroop), while another one is struggling because it is his first day and he is nervous(Mr. Lowry). Mrs. Raddel is the assistant principal. Coach Webb is the gym teacher. Mr. Stroop isn't supposed to use sarcasm, is supposed to be more organized, and write lesson plans. People assume that the female PE teacher is gay. Teachers aren't supposed to be a students friend, but Stroop cares about them and tries to help them. Lowry has no authority and a weak voice with students and teachers. Gym teacher is uptight and cares too much if a students is a couple seconds late to class. Students took Lowry's chalk. Gym teacher believes in students and has high expectations for them and they succeed and perform at the level of expectations. Lowry is reading books on classroom management. Raddel and Webb had a fight about amount of time it takes to be an assistant principal. Mr. Stroop has to ask a student to use smaller words so that he can better understand and another one to act a little dumber because she knows more history than him. Lowry is trying to add some humor to his teaching and it is helping with his confidence a little. Webb likes Lowry. Stroop is asking the teachers if they have used some school stuff and tells them that they have to stop. He talks about integrity and character and how the teachers should be role models for the students. Webb assumes that people thinks she is pushy, probably is though. Stroop us calling a students parents because he has a bad grade, fake call same students who used big words. Lowry fell asleep and fantasized about Webb, then the assistant principal asked if he would date her. He has been divorced for two years and is afraid to start dating again. Lowry wishes that student didn't bring cell phones. Gets really mad at a student, he is a horrible teacher. Stroop is up for teacher of the year and is talking to his class about it. Lowry doesn't feel as if some of his students don't respect him, a mother gives him advice on how to get students respect. School runs out of fish sticks because of lack of funds. Gym teacher is still uptight about the tardy policy. She thought that her friend who became the assistant principal would help her and is mad that she isn't helping her as much. Raddel feels manipulated. Stroop really wants to be a teacher of the year and thinks that he will win. He didn't win and is all sad and stuff. Desk flip and yells because a student said that second place isn't last place. Teachers keep complaining about the gym teacher. The AP misses teaching. Lowry made a deal with his students that he could participate in a slang spelling bee. Seems more confident and wins. teachers seem to bond throughout movie. Lowry is rapping with his students. Lowry may not return to teaching the next year. Teachers learned more about themselves and how to be better teachers throughout the year.

John Gatto

The article was definitely different. I agreed with some parts of it and I thought other parts were kind of crazy. I agree with him when he talks about how school is boring and that most teachers aren't very smart. The school system seems to go at the slowest students pace while I believe that it should go a little faster than the average student's pace. This will keep the students more interested and require them to take learning into their own hands. Most of the teachers that I have had were good and tried to keep the class interesting, but there were a few that were boring and stupid. The boring teachers always had to highest fail rate of all the teachers; students just don't want to learn if they aren't interested. I disagree with Gatto when he compares school to Prussian education. The public school system provides a lot of social opportunities for the students and can be fun. It also prepares students for the corporate job market by having a set schedule with set deadlines. The problem with the school isn't the system, it's the amount/usefulness of the information taught and how well the teachers do their jobs.

Paper #2 Rough Draft

Paper#2- Compare and Contrast Teachers

My two favorite teachers are Mrs. Kragen and Mrs. Gibbons who were my 6^th grade AGATE English and Social Studies and my 9^th grade Honors World History teacher, respectively. Mrs. Kragen is a professional editor and she taught AGATE classes, which are advanced classes. Mrs. Gibbons was working on her PhD during my freshman year and she got it about halfway through the school year. They were both great teachers and everyone loved their classes. I believe that the most important role a teacher can play is that of a mentor and both Mrs. Kragen and Mrs. Gibbons did a great job of this.

Both of the teachers are highly educated which made them good teachers and mentors. Mrs. Kragen is a professional editor, so she would strictly grade any writing assignments we turned in. Once a month she would assign a book report that would be specifically on something like the plot or the theme of the book. For every grammatical error we would lose points, and if we changed tense during the paper, then she would take 2% off the final grade each time we changed tense. She did this so that we would organize our thoughts better. Mrs. Kragen would also assign 10 sentences a week on one type of writing composition; for example sentences that use prepositional phrases. She assigned the sentences so that we would learn how to correctly use different compositions of writing.

Mrs. Gibbons earned her PhD halfway through the school year, so she had the college experience fresh in her mind which allowed her to better prepare us for college. The textbook that she used for our class was a college level book. It was to get us used to reading at a college level and understanding the information that we read. Mrs. Gibbons would take time and show us how to take really good notes and how to figure out what the most important information from reading is. The notes that she taught are called Cornell Notes and they have been proven to help students remember the information. The Cornell Notes require you to read the text once, and then read it again while taking notes. Then you have to write questions based on the information in your notes.This allows you to quickly review the notes just by answering the questions.

They both tried to improve our core life skills; Mrs. Kragen focused more one middle school and high school skills while Mrs. Gibbons focused on college skills and skills that you would use in a job. Mrs. Kragen would always assign challenging work which would require us to go more in-depth on the topic and we would learn more about it. She had everyone in the class participate in something called National History Day. For National History Day everyone was split into small groups of two or three and then had to pick an important person to research from the past century. We then had a couple months to research the person and would eventually write a paper and create a poster board exhibit on the person. A couple groups from our class made it to the regional finals and one group made it to state. We learned good research skills and how to work in a small group.

Mrs. Gibbons assigned a lot of power point presentations. This was to improve our communication and presentation skills. The first assignment that she gave was a power point, she wrote down notes on what we were doing and then gave us tips on how to improve. The final for her class was also a power point on a civilization that we had been studying for the whole year; after we finished with that she showed us her notes on how our presentation skills had improved through out the year. She would also have an after school club twice a week where you could go and do your homework or get help from a tutor. This helped set a schedule for getting your work done on time.

Both of them genuinely wanted their students to learn, and they would try and make the lessons more fun so that we would be more willing to learn. They also enjoyed teaching and I think that it makes a big difference whether a teacher enjoys teaching or doesn't. In 6^th grade we had a big unit on Ancient Greece and Mrs. Kragen split our class into four Greek city states. We then had our own version of the Olympic Games and a quiz bowl, the winners were given extra credit points. We had learn about the Olympics and study the Greek for he quiz bowl, but it was in a more fun setting. For the final project our class was split into two groups. Each group had to create a civilization centered around one belief- such as brawn over brain or just something like bacon. We had to meet the major criteria for a civilization and every criteria had to have something to do with the central belief. Then we had to create clues for out language and beliefs and stuff and give them to the other team. The other team would then be playing the role of an archaeologist and would try to figure out everything about our civilization. This project was fun and required a lot of creativity while also teaching us about the basics of civilizations.

Mrs. Gibbons would try to make some of the lessons more interesting. She would try to give work that included some of our interests; for example we had to write a paper on a famous murderer. Mr. Gibbons would also talk about her life and her family. It did not always have something to do with the lesson, but it was interesting and helped her to keep the class's attention. She had two Honors World History classes and our class was about half the size of the other class, so we would finished our work and presentations earlier. Because she was working on her PhD, she knew how important it was to take breaks from the work so she would let us have a little party once in while and watch a movie that had to do with what we were studying; for example we watched Gladiator after we finished our unit on Rome.

While Mrs. Kragen and Mrs. Gibbons are both great examples of teachers playing the role of a mentor, they do have some differences in their teaching styles and what they focus on. The differences in their teachings styles helps to show what they wanted to prepare the students for. Mrs.Kragen would stay more focused on the details for the assignments and the skills that we would need in our near future while Mrs. Gibbons tried to improve our skills that we would need for jobs and tried to give us the tools to easily understand information. They are two of my favorite teachers and I had a lot of fun and learned a lot in heir classes. They were both highly educated and genuinely enjoyed teaching which led to the classes enjoying their class more and learning more in the class. Both Mrs. Kragen and Mrs. Gibbons played what I believe is the most important role of a teacher which is to be a mentor.

Paper 2- Formatting for the Paper

Block Format-
1. Role: Teachers play the role of a mentor. Teaches life skills, knowledge, and a friend.
    Teachers: Mrs. Kragen- 6th grade English and Social Studies, Mrs. Gibbons- 9th grade World History
    Both teachers are a positive example.
2. -Mrs. Kragen was a professional editor. This allowed her to find mistakes that we made in our papers.
    She would assign us book reports specifically on the plot or theme, they had to be written in one tense and every time you switched tense, you would lose 2% off your grade. This was meant help the students better organize their ideas. Then we were given a chance to correct the paper and improve our grade.
   She would also assign 10 sentences a week on one type of writing composition, she would then take the best one and show why it was the best so that everyone would better learn that type of writing composition.
   Mrs. Kragen enjoyed teaching and she tried to make some of the assignments fun.
   During the Greek unit we had "Olympic games" and a quiz bowl. We had to learn about Greece and then got to apply it in a fun way.
   The class was split up into 2 groups and each group had to create their own ancient civilization based on criteria and it had to be centered around a belief, crazy or believable. We then had to leave clues for the other team who would act as archaeologists in the future and try to decipher the civilization. By doing this we learned how to connect information.
   Mrs. Kragen assigned challenging work. This made us have to work harder to get good grades and we ended up learning more about the subject.
   We had to do something called National History Day which is a big project on one important person or thing from the past century. You would have to research it for a couple months then you would put together a big poster board or a presentation displaying the information. A couple groups made it to the finals of regional and one made it to state. You learn research habits and information on the subject.
   -Mrs. Gibbons tried to improve presentation skills/communication to a crowd. Skills for jobs.
   The first assignment we were given was a powerpoint presentation.
   All of our final assignments were presentations. This helped make us feel more comfortable talking in front of an audience and will help when we have a job. They were graded progressively.
   Mrs. Gibbons tried to prepare us for college.
   Our textbook was a college level world history textbook. This was to prepare us for how college level textbooks would be written so that we wouldn't be overwhelmed in college.
   She would spend time in class explaining how to find the most important information in textbooks and what might appear on a test.
   She taught us how to take in-depth notes- C-Notes.
   Mrs. Gibbons could understand and relate to the students.
   She got her PhD during the school year and was able to understand how some of the students felt from the homework from all the classes.
   She would give example from her life relating to skills or what we were learning. Sometimes should would just share interesting parts about her life and we would talk about that if we finished the work early for that day.
3. While Mrs. Kragen and Mrs. Gibbons both cared about their students education, Mrs. Kragen focused more on middle school and high school skills while Mrs. Gibbons focused mainly on college habits and skills that would assist you in the workplace.

Point by Point Format-
1. Will most likely be my introductory paragraph with block type body.
2. They were both highly educated, PhD and Editor. This allowed them to better understand the material and they were able to give better feed back on assignments and be more strict on the grading.
   The both tried to make the assignments more fun or interesting so that the students would be more willing to learn. Either life stories and discussions or fun activities.
   Improve core skills- life skills and school skills/habits. Presentations, big research projects, correct studying habits.
3. Basically the same as the block format.

Third Organizational Format-
Basically a combination of the previous formats, more of a finishing tactic to use on the final draft of the paper than a format for the paper.

Boyce and Large

Both writers advocate that true learning and success comes from within. Large believes that if you want success, then you have to build up the child's character. This is done by the parents showing affection for the child from a young age, and then, when the child gets older, allowing the child to face challenges. He says that the child needs to face challenges to improve themselves, but this can cause stress which can have adverse affects, so the parents should provide support as the kid faces the challenge. This allows the kid to improve and to begin to build their character with their own experiences. Boyce believes that children need to learn life skills to succeed in life, besides just getting good grades. he says that this can be done by using ones inherent mindfulness. He says that taking time to think away from yourself can help you deal with almost any situation and will usually result in success. He has studies going on at different schools and says that yoga can be a way to help calm and prepare yourself. Both writers focus more on the ability of having a strong mind and good character than the actual learning of information because they believe that if you have those characteristics, then the rest will follow.

Drafting Paper 2

Teachers- Mrs. Kragen, 6th grade AGATE English and Social Studies
                Mrs. Gibbons, 9th grade Honors World History
Mrs. Kragen was the first teacher who actually challenged me with the work. She gave us a lot of work but also made the class fun. When we learned about Ancient Greece the classroom was divided into 4 polises and we competed against each other for points and extra credit. I haven't learned any new writings skills (noticeable) since her class and I have aced all of my paper because she graded so hard with her papers. We also had to do something called National History Day in her class. We were divided into groups of 2 or 3 and had to do a lot of research on one person or thing in modern U.S. history. People from all over the U.S. competed and there were different levels of judging. I was with my friend and we did William Boeing and made it into the regional finals. We spent about half the year working on the project and one group in our class went to state. She really affected and improved my work habits and my writing skills.
Mrs. Gibbons gave a lot of presentations in her class and we had to do a lot of research. Up to that point in time she was one of three teachers that actually gave difficult work. Our class was small and there was only 10 people in it, all of which I have known since 7th grade, so everyone talked a lot and helped each other learn more. Mrs. Gibbons would have discussions on the readings and actually taught us how to read a real college level textbook and take the information out of it and turn into presentations or tests. She also assigned a big powerpoint presentation on one great empire that was to be completed throughout the year for quarter finals and then the year final. I had the Mongol Empire and had to research the 12 main components that make a civilization and relate it to the Mongols. I learned how to give presentations in her class and how to perform in-depth research.
In both classes I had a lot of fun, learned a lot, and got to hang out and work with my friends. These are my two favorite teachers.

Roles of the Teachers

Mr. Escalante played all the roles: disciplinarian, mentor, ally, friend, and therapist. He was a disciplinarian and an ally because he made the students work hard and long after school hours so that they would be able to learn more information and go to college. He was a mentor because He taught them the information and made sure that they could all understand it. He became their friend and therapist because he helped them deal with their personal problems and genuinely cared for them, he also had complete confidence in their abilities.
Ms. Watson was a mentor and an ally/friend. She was a mentor because she wanted the students to learn information that you can't learn from a textbook, she taught them how to view art with both the heart and the mind. She was also their ally and friend because she wanted them to learn and to succeed and she wanted them to further their education instead of just getting married.
Jack McFarland was a mentor, ally, friend, and therapist. He was a mentor to Mike because he took extra time to explain and help teach the information and he genuinely enjoyed doing it. He became a friend through mentoring Mike and they began to enjoy their discussions. He was an ally because he did everything he could to help Mike get into college. And he was a Mike's unknowing therapist, just by spending time with Mike he helped him deal with what happened to his dad.
Sister MPH was mainly a disciplinarian but she was also a mentor. She was a disciplinarian because she was extremely strict and would call home whenever Audre misbehaved. She was a mentor in the fact that she was Audre's teacher, even though Audre did not really like her.

Mr. Escalante- Mr. McFarland

Mr. Escalante and Mr. McFarland are both very similar to each other. They are both passionate about teaching and put in a lot of their time to help the students improve, with extra classes or clubs and by assigning a lot of homework. They also developed personal relationships with students and helped them with family problems. Both of them wanted the students to succeed in life and helped them get into college, Mr. Escalante by vouching for his students truthfulness on the AP Test and Mr. McFarland by vouching for Mike to get into his old college. Also both teachers helped the students financially, Mr. Escalante got them free college credits with AP Calc and Mr. McFarland got Mike a loan for college. Both of them were loved by their students and became more than just teachers to them, they became mentors and friends and helped the students live a better life.

MLS Reaction

I thought the movie was kind of boring but also interesting. I was surprised that all the students showed up on the first day of class having already read the textbook. It was cool how Ms. Watson changed her lesson plan completely so that she could still teach the students about art. Her new lesson plan was based on what she enjoyed and about thinking about art psychologically. It was interesting to see how much she changed some of her students lives. I thought it was stupid how the nurse got fired for protecting the students by giving them contraceptive devices. I also thought that it was pathetic that the male teacher was sleeping with students that were at least ten years younger than him.

School Comparison

Garfield High School was a poor school. It didn't have enough money for computers and the students mainly came from poor families. On the other hand Wellesley College was a very fancy and prestigious school. The students were all female and they all came from wealthy families. Also Garfield's teachers don't really care about the students and set low expectations for them while in Wellesley all the students already read the textbook by the first day of class. At Garfield the students were involved in gangs and other things and the school didn't really care, besides Mr. Escalante. At Wellesley the nurse was fired for giving contraceptives to students. At both schools the students main goal at the beginning was just to graduate, high school at Garfield and college and then marriage at Wellesley, but by the end the students had higher goals like going to college or getting more advanced degrees. Both of the featured teachers changed the schools and helped the students grow and improve their lives. Garfield was basically a modern, ghetto high school while Wellesley was a high end traditional conservative college, but both were changed and improved by two dedicated teachers.

Mona Lisa Smile Notes

Ms. Watson went to the school to make a difference. It is an all girl private Catholic school/college. The other teachers are nice to her. She teaches history of art 100. The students do not respect the teacher. They already know everything that MS. Watson is trying to teach them. The whole class already read the entire textbook. The school board seems to disapprove of her. Her roommates warned her to defend herself. She changed her teaching so that the class wouldn't know the stuff before she taught it. New syllabus- What is art? what makes it good or bad and why? Some students really like Ms. Watson and other students don't like her. The school nurse was attacked by student for giving out contraception. They have classes for proper etiquette. The school nurse was fired. They have marriage lessons. Ms. Watson is teaching the students her way and letting them know that they don't have to get married and have their educational future stop. She gave a student a second chance on a paper. She is pushing the same student to apply for Yale. Male teacher wants to dance with Ms. Watson but female students takes him instead. Ms. Watson helps set up an art exhibit for the students to go to. Paint splatter piece has a special meaning for her. The school wants her to stop teaching as much modern art as she does, more traditional teaching. The student was accepted into Yale. Ms. Watson's boyfriend come to visit her during the break. Student can't get over that the teacher doesn't want to see her anymore. Ms. Watson was proposed to by her now fiance. She doesn't want to marry him and get mad. Ms. Watson is discussing Van Gough with the class outside of the classroom. She was mad when the married student missed some classes. The student is threatening her. Ms. Watson was invited to be a guest at a student's secret society. They are asking her personal questions that she has to answer, and they seem to be having fun. Students are talking about the teacher got engaged over Christmas, but then she tells them that she split up with him. Students talk about the Yale application and how Ms. Watson filled some of it out. Next day she is mad in class and tells the students to just listen. Talking about advertisements and what they mean with the education. Argues with principal and wants to quit. Goes to talk to the male teacher. He gives her a Christmas present. He promises not to sleep with students when he is with her. Student finds out boyfriend was lying to her. Ms. Watson's roommate doesn't like the male teacher and questions why she is dating him. One girl just causes trouble for everyone. Student who was supposed to go Yale isn't because her fiance is going to a different school. The girls who causes trouble's husband is never around. Yale girl wants to be a housewife. Connie goes to her boyfriends dorm to try and get back with him. The girls are being over dramatic. Ms. Watson is being reviewed and they don't want to fire her because enrollment for her class is higher then ever. All the male teacher's war stories were a lie. Ms. Watson is invited back with restrictions that limit her to a specific syllabus and she can only talk about her specific subject. Students all complete flower paintings so that teacher would remember them. One girls gets a divorce and moves in with a friend because shes not welcome at her mom's house and is deciding to go to Yale (different girl). She now likes and admires the teacher.

Mr. Escalante- Good/Bad Teacher

1. I believe that Mr. Escalante, in the film Stand and Deliver, is a good example of a teacher because he taught to the the students. He taught his lessons in a way that they would understand it, for example in one of the classroom scene he gave them a algebraic problem involving jigalos and their hoes. Some parents may not view it as good, but the students enjoyed it and they learned how to solve the problem. He also genuinely enjoyed teaching and interacting with the students. In many scenes he would try and motivate the students or talk to their parents so that they would have more education opportunities, and he argued with the AP Test administrators when they accused his students of cheating because he had faith in them. While overall he is a good teacher he was also a bad teacher at times like when he refused to admit that he was wrong on a problem and all the students had the correct answer.

2. Brown believes that a good teacher will have a tremendous dedication to his job and the learning of the students along with preparation for the future and support for the students. Mr. Escalante fits these criteria because he devoted so much of his life and time to teaching the students that he began to neglect his own family and even had a heart attack because of the stress of preparing them for the AP Test. With his help he was able to convince the students families to help the students succeed and go to college and he taught them all the knowledge that they needed to pass the AP Test with a 100% pass rate.

3.Sir Ken Robinson's main criteria for good teaching is to be creative. He wants the students to understand what happens in the real world and not to focus on what's right and what's wrong.

4. If there was no background outside of the classroom Robinson would most likely rate Mr. Escalantes teaching badly except for the real world applications of it. But when it is taking into context he would have to rate Mr. Escalante well because Mr. Escalante is a math teacher and the only way you can teach math is through solving the problems and learning if you are right or wrong. You are not suposed to be creative inside of a math classroom, you are supposed to learn logical thinking and how to use math. Mr. Escalante did try very hard to teach his students calculus for the AP exam so that they would get college credit for the class. Robinson would have rate Mr. Escalante well on that part because he is trying to help them succeed in life.

Lorde's Essay

Lorde describes the teachers that she had in chronological order up to first grade. It was mainly centered on her reading and writing. She was raised by her mother who was very strict and this stayed with her throughout the story. When Mrs. Baker first read to her in the library she was very happy and her mother wanted to do everything that she could to help her learn how to read. Her mother taught her how to do basic reading and writing and skipped some kindergarten lessons like using a crayon and music paper. Her mother told her what the right ways were and what the wrong ways were. When Lorde went to kindergarten her teacher was a bitch. The teacher couldn't stand having a student that was smarter than everyone else and didn't like it when Lorde refused write the wrong way. Luckily Lorde's mother got her into first grade. This teacher was strict like her mother and kept moving Lorde back and forth between the good kids and the bad kids. The main reason she was moved back and forth was because she couldn't read numbers. Also once the teacher assumed that she cheated on an assignment because it was too good. Basically the school teachers underestimated the students and punished them for being too smart.

WS Reading

All of the topics talked about in the WS reading are ways or styles of writing essays. Our second paper is an essay and it should include at least one, but more likely most, of these things when we write it to better communicate the topic or main idea.

What Makes a Good Teacher

There are a few things that I think teachers need to be a good teacher. First they need to completely know the subject that they are teaching, like almost up to a master's degree in the field. Second, they actually have to enjoy teaching and interacting with the students. They also have to use different styles of teaching so that it doesn't get boring. If multiple students don't understand something that was taught, then the teacher needs to go back and explain it more thoroughly. Also the teacher needs to admit when they are wrong with a problem or an equation. Finally they need to give tests and quizzes which include stuff from throughout the year so that the students don't forgot all the information. A good teacher will do most of these things and can change their teachings plans depending on the class.

First Paper Final Draft

Learning to Read

 

Reading is one of my favorite activities to do and it has been so since elementary school. It is amazing to open a book written by someone else and to live the life of the characters through words written in the book. The book opens up a window to the author's mind and allows you to read and visualize what the author thought up. While I love to read now, that was not always the case; in the second grade I was reading at a kindergarten level, the lowest ranked reading level in our school. I just had a hard time understanding how to transfer written symbols into spoken words. Because I had such a hard time reading words that were more than a single syllable, I stopped trying learn and just kind of floated through the reading lessons. Eventually I found motivation and I learned how to read. My skill level skyrocketed by the end of the year.

In my second grade class we would have a reading lesson twice a week where we were separated into groups based on our reading skills and then had to read books at our skill level out loud. The levels were designated by colored stickers which stood for the reading grade level, basic colors for K-6 and then a sparkly sticker for middle school or above. Most of the other kids in my class started out at a second or third grade level, but I was at a kindergarten level along with two other kids. I was kind of embarrassed to be placed in the lowest reading level, but I told myself that it wasn't that bad because other people were with me. About once a month there would be a reading assessment to determine which level you should belong in. After the first assessment only one kid increased a level. Then by the third assessment almost the whole class had increased by one or more levels and there was only one other kid and myself left at the kindergarten level. I started to think that I just could not read so I stopped trying to. At the assessment right before the parent-teacher conferences before winter break the other kid who was with me in the kindergarten level passed it and increased a level. I started to become frustrated with myself and I told myself that words do not matter, as long as I can understand numbers and math then I can become successful when I'm older.

During the parent-teacher conference my teacher explained her worries about how my reading skills hadn't improved at all that year. She explained that reading is an important skill that everyone must have if they are to become successful in life. I told her that I would not have to read if I was good at math but she said that higher level math and science required you to be able to read. My parents then said that they would make me read at home every day. For the first week of the winter break I still didn't really care about reading and I still didn't think that it mattered. My parents got frustrated with me and I was grounded. While I was grounded I thought back to what my teacher said and I realized that, if she was right, then I would need to learn how to read or else I might not be able to get a job. I came to the conclusion that I would actually start to try to learn how to read when school started again.

The first week of school was just as difficult as it had been before, I struggled reading sentences much harder then “I took the dog on a walk.” But I stuck with it and, without realizing it, my ability and speed slowly began to increase. By the first assessment after the break I had increased my level to a first grade reading level, I was so happy to be able to change the colored sticker and my folder and I was proud of myself. By that time my two best friends were at the sparkly sticker level, or middle school level. I decided that I would try as hard as I could to catch up to them by the end of the year. I kept trying harder and harder to learn to read now that I had found my motivation and by the next assessment I skipped the second grade level and went straight to third grade. I felt really good, not only had I reached the level that I should be at, but I also went a level higher. Also I was actually beginning to enjoy reading. At the time I had no idea how important reading would become to me, all I knew was that I had begun to learn how to read. By the final assessment I was at a sixth grade reading level, just one level below my friends. I was really nervous during it hoping that I would reach my goal of catching up to my friends. After the assessment I was scared to hear my results, but when the teacher told me I was so happy, I had finally caught up to my friends and I got the sparkly sticker to put on my folder.

I started out barely being able to read simple sentences and I finished being able to read whole books. Not only that but I had increased my reading level to the top 95% of second graders and I was up there with my best friends. All I needed was motivation to learn how to read. This idea of motivation and how I found it has stuck with me my whole life, every time I want to learn something new I usually start out motivated for a couple weeks but then I lose interest. Eventually I think back on the activity and I find something in my life to motivate me to do that activity. Usually then I see a big increase in my skill with that activity and I can stick with it. For example, when I first learned how to skate I had fun but I eventually grew bored with it, until a couple of my other friends began to skate. I offered to teach them the basics and after that I have skated whenever I can. I believe that as long as someone has enough will power or motivation, then they can do anything that they want to do (within reason.)

After second grade reading became one of my favorite things to do. I would stay up late past my bedtime to read and I would get up early before school to read, much like Malcolm X did in his narrative. Also we both learned it for a purpose, he learned reading to spread the teachings of his faith, land I learned it to help me later on in life. In school I stopped reading because I had to, and instead began to read because I wanted to. Throughout my life as I have changed and my interests have changed, I still enjoy just sitting down and reading a good book.

Stand and Deliver Notes

The school lacks funding for computers and other supplies. The students don't respect the teacher or other school authority. Many students can't speak English well. The teacher quit his job to teach high school. The teacher is doing a good job keeping his authority. There are older people at the high school. Fights break out, and the teacher was able to subdue one of the guys. The teacher can "speak their language." The student correctly answered the math question. The school is in danger of losing its accreditation. The students go to the school with barely a 7th grade education. The teacher has faith in his students. The teacher is pushing his students to improve in math. Some kids are embarrassed by carrying books around. The students are planning not to take the test. Some students have to take care of their families. Teacher uses humiliation as punishment. Anita, student, wants to get an education but her father wants her to leave school and stay in the family business, restaurant. Teacher relates the lessons to the students. Teacher wants to start summer school for math so the students can start to learn calculus. The school board doesn't have much faith in the students. Teacher is now teaching the students calculus and preparing them for the advance placement class. Teacher requires kids to go to calculus during weekends and breaks. Students making incredible progress. Students being pushed too hard by school and home lives. Teacher isn't listening to unavoidable at home problems of students. Teacher's family worried about how much he works. Teacher can't believe it when he gets something wrong. Teacher having health problems, heart attack. Students happy when teacher returns against the doctors orders. Students take advance placement test. The high school had the most students pass the advance placement test, 100% pass rate 18/18. Students give teacher a plaque for helping them so much in math. Students accused of cheating on the test because of similar incorrect answers. Teacher being fired because student were accused of cheating. Teacher's car was stolen. Students fixed/took teacher's car and gave it back. Teacher tries to protect the students but the board refuses to listen. Teacher accuses the cheating investigators of being racist. Students are going to retake the test. The students pass the test again and the teacher wants their original scores reinstated. True story from 1982 and the next couple years the numbers of passes kept dramatically increasing.

Favorite and Least Favorite Teachers

My favorite teacher ever was my 9th grade Honors World History teacher, Ms. Gibbons. She was incredibly smart, receiving her PhD during that school year, and a really good teacher. She taught us really good ways to dissect books for information and assigned us a lot of presentations so that we would improve our presentation skills. Our class was always ahead of the other history class so she would also share her life stories with us which were interesting.

My least favorite teacher was my 7th grade Art teacher, Ms. O'Neil. She was just mean. She couldn't teach art and if someone didn't draw something exactly how she wanted it to be she would fail them. Also if you said one word or tried to defend yourself against her evil ways you would get detention or have to talk to the principle.

Rough Draft- Learning to Read

     Reading is one of my favorite activities to do and has been so since elementary school. It is amazing to open a book written by someone else and to live the life of the character through words written in the book. The book opens up a window to the authors mind and allows you to read and visualize what the author thought up. While I love to read now, that was not always the case; in second grade I was reading at a kindergarten level, the lowest ranked reading level in our school. I just had a hard time understanding how to transfer written symbols into spoken words. Because I had such a hard time reading words that were more than a single syllable, I stopped trying learn and just kind of floated through the reading lessons. Eventually I found motivation and I learned how to read. My skill level skyrocketed by the end of the year.

     In my second grade class we would have a reading lesson twice a week where we were separated into groups based on our reading skills and then had to read books at our skill level out loud. The levels were designated by colored stickers which stood for the reading grade level, basic colors for K-6 and then a sparkly sticker for middle school or above. Most of the other kids in my class started out at a second or third grade level, but I was at a kindergarten level along with two other kids. I was kind of embarrassed to be placed in the lowest reading level, but I told myself that it wasn't that bad because other people were with me. About once a month there would be a reading assessment to determine which level you should belong in. After the first assessment only one kid increased a level. Then by the third assessment almost the whole class had increased by one or more levels and there was only one other kid and myself left at the kindergarten level. I started to think that I just couldn't read so I stopped trying. At the assessment right before the parent-teacher conferences before winter break the other kid who was with me in the kindergarten level passed it and increased a level. I started to become frustrated with myself and I told myself that words don't matter, as long as I can understand numbers and math then I can become successful when I'm older.

     During the parent-teacher conference my teacher explained her worries about how my reading skills hadn't improved at all that year. She explained that reading is an important skill that everyone must have if they are to become successful in life. I told her that I wouldn't have to read if I was good at math but she said that higher level math and science required you to be able to read. My parents then said that they would make me read at home every day. For the first week of the winter break I still didn't really care about reading and I still didn't think that it mattered. My parents got frustrated with me and I was grounded. While I was grounded I thought back to what my teacher said and I realized that, if she was right, then I would need to learn how to read or else I might not be able to get a job. I came to the conclusion that I would actually start to try to learn how to read when school started again.

     The first week of school was just as difficult as it had been before, I struggled reading sentences much harder then “I took the dog on a walk.” But I stuck with it and, without realizing it, my ability and speed slowly began to increase. By the first assessment after the break I had increased my level to a first grade reading level, I was so happy to be able to change the colored sticker and my folder and I was proud of myself. By that time my two best friends were at the sparkly sticker level, or middle school level. I decided that I would try as hard as I could to catch up to them by the end of the year. I kept trying harder and harder to learn to read now that I had found my motivation and by the next assessment I skipped the second grade level and went straight to third grade. I felt really good, not only had I reached the level that I should be at, but I also went a level higher. Also I was actually beginning to enjoy reading. At the time I had no idea how important reading would become to me, all I knew was that I had begun to learn how to read. By the final assessment I was at a sixth grade reading level, just one level below my friends. I was really nervous during it hoping that I would reach my goal of catching up to my friends. After the assessment I was scared to hear my results, but when the teacher told me I was so happy, I had finally caught up to my friends and I got the sparkly sticker to put on my folder.

     I started out barely being able to read simple sentences and I finished being able to read whole books. Not only that but I had increased my reading level to the tops 95% of second graders and I was up there with my best friends. All I needed was motivation to learn how to read. This idea of motivation and how I found it has stuck with me my whole life, every time I want to learn something new I usually start out motivated for a couple weeks but then I lose interest. Eventually I think back on the activity and I find something in my life to motivate me to do that activity. Usually then I see a big increase in my skill with that activity and I can stick with it. For example, when I first learned how to skate I had fun but I eventually grew bored with it, until a couple of my other friends began to skate. I offered to teach them the basics and after that I have skated whenever I can.

     After second grade reading became one of my favorite things to do. I would stay up late past my bedtime to read and I would get up early before school to read, much like Malcolm X did in his narrative. I stopped reading because I had to in school, and instead began to rad because I wanted to. Throughout my life as I have changed and my interests have changed, I still enjoy just sitting down and reading a good book.

Favorite Essay

The essay that I like the most is definitely Malcolm X's because, like him, I didn't learn how to read until a later age than most people. In second grade I was reading at the lowest measured level but by the end of the year I increased my reading level to above average. Malcolm learned how to read by wrote memorization and consistent practice with a dictionary and I did a similar thing with some alphabet books aimed towards children. He was almost completely self taught while I had a teacher to help me, but as we both increased our reading skill we both began to enjoy it more and more.Like Malcolm I would stay up past my bedtime reading books, I had a small book light that would attach to the book and I would go under the covers to read it like Malcolm would sit by the cell door to read. You need motivation to learn something and sometimes the motivation is just the learning itself.

Differences Between the Essays

All of the essays had a similar topic, education/reading, but they all showed it in a different way. Malcolm X's went into detail about how he learned to read in prison and how it became a major part of who he is. Benjamin Franklin's also talked about his love to read, but it wasn't about learning to read. His focused more on his job search and how his love of reading greatly influenced how much he would like a job and how it influenced his decisions. On the other hand Mike Rose's essay didn't talk about him learning something or how it influenced it his life; instead he talked about the environment of his high school life. He described his teachers in the Voc. Ed. system and the other students. So although the essays have a similar topic, They all show in very different, yet personal ways to the writers.

Cubing- First Paper

Describe-
Reading is the process of looking at symbols and recognizing their order and attaching meaning to it. There are many rules that govern it and many exceptions to those rules. There are also different "levels" to reading, or the difficulty of the written words and their to structure to associate with objects and to pronounce out loud.

Analyze-
There are 26 different symbols, or characters, in the English alphabet. Each one has its own meaning and is combined with others in different ways to create words which represent something. The words are combined to create a sentence which then communicates something. It can be difficult for a beginner reader to recognize and pronounce words, let alone sentences or whole books.

Compare-
Learning to read is similar to learning to write and speak. They involve the same steps applied in different ways. Learning to speak is usually the easiest because you can learn just by listening and learning how to make the sounds. While reading requires you to associate written symbols with the spoken words and ideas that you have. It is also similar to learning to skateboard because it takes a lot of practice and hard work. You will start out being unable to do anything but slowly you will improve and be able to read faster and more difficult stuff just like you will be able to skate at faster speeds and learn harder tricks the more you practice.

Apply-
Once you learn to read you can learn more stuff about other subjects whose information is written down. You will be able to read a book and live through an adventure that someone else had or thought of. You will become more worldly and will be able to view and understand more ideas and opinions that are different than your own. You will be able to communicate with people non verbally which can be helpful in many cases.

Cubing- Group Discussion

Cubing involves analyzing a topic in 6 different ways. This can help with the writing of the first paper because it requires you to really think about the topic in a more detailed in-depth way. The exact way of using the cubing method may need to be slightly changed when writing a story based on a past experience, but can still help in generating details for the first paper. It appears that each of the 6 parts of the cubing method becomes more and more involved with the topic. It goes from just describing something to knowing enough about it to argue both for and against it. It also requires you to make connections between it and other things and to see how it is used.

Texting- Argue

Texting can be both good and bad depending on the situation. Some good things are that helps people stay connected, it’s quick and easy, sometimes its better then calling someone, and everything is recorded in writing already so you don’t forget the conversation. Some of the bad things are that it can cause bad writing habits, the messages can be misunderstood, and it can be distracting in some situations. In my opinion it is more helpful than hurtful.

Ducks- Compare

Ducks are similar to many other birds, some more than others. They live both in the water and on land so they are more like a goose than a pigeon. They are also similar to many reptiles because they lay eggs. They can also be similar to a boat because they use their tail feathers to steer them through the water like a boat uses its rudder. They are also similar to platypuses because both animals have bills and webbed feet and live in both the water and on land.

Mike Rose

Rose and the rest of the students had a poor educational life in Voc. Ed. The teachers didn't really like their jobs so they didn't teach well and mistreated the students. Basically Voc. Ed. is, not just as Rose described it as being a dead end for students, but is also a dead end for teachers. Voc. Ed. failed to teach the students important skills that they would need later in life and failed to provide some motivation for learning the subjects. But Voc. Ed.'s failure for teaching is not an acceptable excuse for Rose and the other students to fail in classes such as math. High school was most likely disorienting to Ken Harvey because different people kept telling him different things and because he sees people from ways of life. He realized that he most likely would not become great in life and instead of working hard, decided that he was content with being average. It was a realistic view of his future and it worked for him and allowed him to cope with everything that was thrown at him. This text shows students that don't really care about their education and they were dumped by the education system and left to fend for themselves. They weren't stupid they just lacked will and motivation which ended up ruining their education. At different points in my education and other activities I lacked motivation and therefore sucked at the subject or activity, but once I decided to find motivation then I was able to improve in the area. The hardest part about learning or improving in something is finding the motivation, but once you do that all you have to do is practice.