I believe that the most important thing that K-12 education needs is more dedicated teachers.  Just as i saw in the movie Waiting for Superman , statistics show that good teachers that teach up to 150% of the required cariculum produce students with higher learning levels.   In any other company, small business or workplace employees are promoted for working hard and doing their job to the best of their ability, and those who don't are let go.  Unfortunately for students across the country, this is not the way that careers in teaching are set up.  There are thousands of teachers who barely even teach 50% of the cariculum, yet they have no penalties due to regulations and laws protecting their jobs.  Because of these laws,  many teachers are able to teach nearly nothing and still keep their jobs.  I think that changes need to be made in the school systems so that teachers are rewarded and promoted for doing their job well, and fired or disciplined for skating their way through the system and doing the bare minimum for their students.  Better teachers make better schools, better schools make better students, and better students move on to be successful and make a difference in their community and the country.

Both Gilyard's Essay on The Arts and Humnanities in Schools, and the NEA article on Arizona's Latino History Program brought up valid points about problems in the educational systems in the United States.   Throughout my experience in K-12 schooling, the classes that are the most inspiring to me such as art, drama, or music seem to be the first ones to get cut from the schedule when there is a lack of funding.  Personally I believe that there can be other more effective ways to cut spending rather than take away the classes that are anything other than basic science, history, math or English.  Although these classes are considered to be "more important" than humanities classes I strongly disagree.  For many students including myself it is hard to do well in a subject that doesn't have some sort of significance to personal interests, and by cutting art or music classes, school districts are taking away the place where many students excel the most and pushing them into an academic box of sorts that limits their posibility of finding their passion.  These articles are important in Unit 3 of this class because we are looking at what is most important in K-12 schooling in our opinions and preparing to write a paper that backs up our opinion.  In these articles we read about the loss of underestimated classes that are actually the most important in the long run, and this helps to gather more ideas and form an opinion on what we think is most important in educational systems and what can be changed.

Against School- John Gatto

After reading John Gatto's "Against School", I feel inspired.  I have honestly never felt like I was "meant" to go to school, but I had to because that is what I was "supposed" to do.  K-12 schooling does have some good social aspects, and students hopefully learn how to have manners and respect eachother but lately I have been seeing less and less of anything good coming from traditional schooling.  When Gatto made a point about how Abe Lincoln and Ben Franklin weren't in school I could not help but smile.  That is proof that even without formal schooling children can grow up to be successful and make a positive change in the world.  I hope that by the time I have children there are more options for schooling that focus on building good character and being good citicens because I believe that that would be much more beneficial than the public schooling system we have today.

WS sections 48 and 49

Section 48 in the Writing Simplified text book is all about classification of similar things and the different types of classifying those things.  I can use classification in my upcomming paper to create different categories in K-12 schools that I would like to improve, and how I would improve them. For instance two of my categories could be issues that can be fixed, and issues that will have to be dealt with for years to come. 
Section 49 in the text book is about comparing and contrasting.  I can use comparisons and contrasts in my third paper when I am writing about the two different movies that we will watch in class.  I can compare the differrent schools, teachers and students just as I did in my second paper, and I can use contrasts to show the differences. 

paper #2 draft

Abbey Levenstein

Great Teachers

There are many different theories as to what makes a great teacher, from years of practice and experience to any number of different teaching styles.  The most important attribute in my opinion, however, is to have a caring and sincere passion to inspire students to learn.  My essay will compare Two such teachers, one very influential in my  own life, my 12^th grade English teacher Theresa and  the  humorously innovative Mr. Escalante, from the movie Stand and deliver.  Both of these educators have such a passion and love for what they do, that it is apparent in success of their students. 

For myself, I have found that my willingness to work hard and actually find enjoyment in a classroom can be difficult, depending on the subject, especially if I don’t feel some sort of connection with my teacher.  I have had experiences with both extremely enthusiastic teachers, who love their jobs and go above and beyond expectations to help their students, and less invested teachers who seem to just do the bare minimum for their class and to receive a paycheck and benefits.    In my 12- year educational career I had the best time and most enjoyable learning experience with Theresa.  We came together at the Kingston High School alternative school, Spectrum.

The unfortunately now defunct, Spectrum was a lot like Vocational Education that Mike Rose described in part one of I Just Want To Be Average.  Many of the students at Spectrum were labeled.  Some as “trouble-makers” or “outcasts” and all were teased because they didn’t  “do well” or “fit in” in the regular Kingston High School environment.  Spectrum was the place where everyone, faculty and students alike, was friendly and accepting no matter what your background or personality was, and luckily for us, we also had the best teacher a student could ask for.

Theresa is a very up-beat and happy woman with a good sense of humor, which made her class very enjoyable.   She took the time to get to know each one of her students personally, which made us all feel very comfortable and sincerely cared about.   This helped to create a sense of family and comradery within the classroom, so no one was afraid to share their thoughts and opinions.   All too often students feel shy or uncomfortable with speaking openly in class in fear of judgment by those around them.  This is why I strongly believe that making connections in the classroom is crucial for a successful learning experience, because when students are comfortable with their peers and teacher, they will be more likely to speak up with any questions or concerns that they might have about the curriculum.    Therefore the comfortable and safe atmosphere encourages more learning throughout the life of the class.

Another great feature of her teaching style was that she created an atmosphere that made learning fun and exciting.  We would often have class debates, which made for a fun break between lessons and lectures and also allowed all the students to get to know more about each others opinions on topics pertaining to daily life, politics, etc.  She was excellent at keeping everyone involved in discussion, so class was never boring or tedious.   Students can often become distracted in class and adding games into the syllabus enables students to have some fun while continuing to learn effectively.    Many times Theresa would introduce educational games for learning vocabulary or reviewing previous lessons to the class, which kept everyone focused and participating, and also made for a little friendly competition.  It was very apparent to me that Theresa loved being a teacher, and wanted to see us learn and grow because she put forth so much extra effort to not only teach, but to get the whole class involved. 

Another educator that is a great example of what makes a great and passionate teacher is Mr. Escalante, a new teacher in the movie Stand and Deliver.  In the movie, Mr. Escalante is brought in to teach a computer class at a public school in the inner city of Los Angeles.  This school is racked with unruly behavior, and administrators with little or no passion for their career, which caused an environment with little structure.  Also there was a great lack of funding that resulted in an inability to facilitate a class with computers, so Escalante was re-assigned at the last minute to instruct a math class.   Mr. Escalante was able to come in to a class of juniors that are barely at an 8^th grade math level and transform them all into AP calculus students by their graduation two years later. 

Mr. Escalante brought structure and discipline into his class while also making that important connection with his students and reaching out to their families.   He went out of his way to meet the parents or guardians of each one of his students, to assure them of the possibilities for their children’s futures, and share how he planned to help them get there.  Although not all the families were supportive at first, Escalante continued to push the students to do and be the best they could and the support of their families eventually followed.  The perseverance that this man showed for this class is exceptionally admirable as he helped them find value in themselves where they had never known it to be before.  The gift of inspiration is something that only great teachers such as Mr. Escalante and Theresa are able to give.

Just as Theresa often used games to keep the class focused, Mr. Escalante would use humorous word play that related to his students life to keep their attention on the lesson.   This took those monotonous math word problems and made them fun and funny.   Along with his outgoing sense of humor, Escalante never felt that he was superior to his students.  Showing them equality and respect in and out of the classroom made the students more comfortable to retort to his humor with equally witty banter, while feeling assured that it would not end in punishment.   By treating students as equals, teachers can connect with them in a more effective way than if they treated them as inferior because particularly in high school, students are much less likely to rebel against someone that they respect and shows respect for them.

Jerry Large

Jerry Large seems to have done a lot of research about how to basically "grow successful children".  After all this research he came to the conclusion that the children that had more affection shown to them in their first few years of life have a lot more success later on.  He also named a few basic characteristics that make a good person such as self control, social intelligence, zest and most importantly, grit.  Large believes that a "big part of building character is overcoming failure", and do do this you need grit.  Of coarse too much of anything can be bad, but everything in moderation is alright, and if we accuire this at a young age we are more likely to be more successful adults.

Paper #2 Prep

At the beginning of this unit I knew that my 12th grade English teacher would be one of the teachers I would write about.  I am still not 100% sure of who the second teacher is that I will either compare of contrast.   I have narrowed my choice down to either Catherine Watson from Mons Lisa Smile, or Mr. Escalante from Stand and Deliver.  I really like Mr. Escalante because of the extreme difference that he made in not only the class we saw in the movie, but the entire school over time.  The other teacher that I would possibly write about is Ms. Watson.  I like her because she is attempting to make a difference in a time where women seem to have no say in anything.  I am still going to do some more thinking about my choice but I am leaning more towards Mr. Escalante.

Mr. Escalante

In my opinion there are many different aspects that make someone a great teacher.  The most important of all is a sincere desire to teach.  For example, Mr. Escalante, in the film Stand and Deliver is a great example of what I think is a good teacher, and we can see this in the scene where he creates a contract for the students and their parents to sign, allowing them to spend extra time in school and take summer classes.  The fact that he is 100% willing to take so much extra time to help these students succeed makes him an amazing teacher.  Another detail that makes Mr. Escalante such a great teacher is his ability to bring fun into the classroom while still staying on topic.  In a few scenes of the movie when the class is getting out of hand he has some sort of "chant" that all the students do along with him and it gets their focus back on what they are studying. I thought that was a really fun way to get everyone on track without the need to raise his voice, or punish anyone.

In his article, "What Makes a Good Teacher?" Dan Brown suggests that some of the criteria are; collaborating with other co-workers,  supplementing parts of different ideas into the curriculum and creating relationships with your students.  Mr. Escalante fits these criteria because he was willing to do everything possible to help the students complete their education.  We see this in the film when he is at a meeting with the rest of the school's educators and he attempts to make suggestions that will help his class's chances of graduation. He wanted to continue with his class into the summer and through the next year, and although some of his colleagues did not agree, he was able to make it happen and ultimately push the class to the top.  The contract that I spoke about in the previous paragraph is also another thing that meets the criteria of a good teacher according to Dan Brown, because this formed a better relationship with the students and also kept their parents updated on what he intended for the class.

Escalante and MacFarland

As i was reading Mike Rose's I just want to be average  part 2, I was surprised to see how much Mr. Macfarland  reminded me of Stand and Deliver's Mr.  Escalante.  Although they both taught different subjects, their teaching style and passion to help their students succeed was all the same.   In Stand and Deliver it was almost impossible for the students to be unruly in Mr. Escalante's class because he would either make a joke right back to them, or kick them out of the class.  Similarly, the students in Mr. MacFarlands class were unable to cause problems because they would end up looking "foolish rather than daring".  Although this was not because he would retaliate, but because the students respected how hard this man worked, and how much time he spent on leaning more and more so that he could teach more and more.  Other than some lifestyle differences like their place of residence, I find Mr. Escalante and Mr. MacFarland to be very similar teachers, with the same passion for what they do every day.

Thoughts About Mona Lisa Smile

So far I am enjoying the movie Mona Lisa Smile.  It is definitely a lot different than Stand and Deliver in many ways.  Instead of being in the inner-city of Los Angeles teaching high school, this teacher is at a Catholic girls college where all of the students already are very well-read and intelligent.  It seems to me that instead of literally teaching these students about art, Catherine is giving them a new outlook on the way that they can live their lives.  The girls that attend the college were brought up to believe that women are made to be wives. For their whole life they have been taught that it is basically their duty in life to grow up, get married, have kids and be "the best wife possible".  Ms. Watson, being from a completely different area and upbringing wants these girls to see that they are not limited to simply being a wife; they can do anything they want and be whatever makes them truly happy.  Slowly the girls are stepping away from their life of labeling themselves and others and just learning to be themselves and do what interests them.  I really enjoy these types of film because it is truly amazing to see how much of a difference one person can make, and it inspires me because I hope to one day make a difference in other peoples lives in whatever career I choose.

Mona Lisa Smile [notes] part 1

*Starts off on her way to teach at "the most conservative college in the nation" welsley
*"Catherine Watson"
*All girls catholic school
*Seems to be stuck in this place where she doesn't belong. Too proper, strict and boring
*Begins teaching art history 100
*The students seem cocky and rude and try to feel superior to Catherine
*Catherine is overwhelmed because she thought she was there to teach them, not the opposite
*She finds out that the only reason she got the job was because the instructor they really wanted took a job at Brown so she was the only other option
*It seems like she feels insignificant at the school and the other administrators don't help that feeling at all
they were surprised to hear that she had never been to Europe
*One of her roommates warns her about the school and how they "have claws under their white gloves"
*After her first hard day she brings a surprise into the next class.  She forces the girls to give their real input by creating a new syllabus.
*she is attempting to get the girls to open their minds
*The focus is on a groupof 4 girls that share a dorm.  One of which is very rude and impersonal and starts creating rumors about Catherine
*The females that work and attend at the college seem to gossip a lot and judge each other very harshly
*The school nurse ends up getting fired for providing contraception to students and one of them writes an article for the school paper saying that she promotes promiscuity
*The girls have to attend lectures on how to be a good wife
*Most of the students there just live like they have always been taught and conform to their surroundings, Catherine is trying to show them that they can do anything they want to do or be anything they want to be
*As the girls are continuing in Catherines class, they are begining to lighten up and find themselves rather than what society had been telling them they were meant to be
* The school does not like the way that catherine teaches because they are "traditionalists" and one woman hints to Catherine that Welseley wont want her much longer if she doesn't follow their ways. .
*Catherine's roommate surprises her with her boyfriend
*Joselle is interested in the Italian teacher and continues to try to get him back although it could hurt his career.
*Paul proposes to catherine, but she doesn't seem like she really wants him
*Paul ends up leaving and the engagement is off

Audre Lorde

In the essay "A New Spelling Of My Name", Audre lorde describes her first experiences with learning to read, write and attend school.  Despite her being legally blind at that age she still uses colorful descriptions of her teachers, classmates and thoughts at that time.   When Audre is put into kindergarten, and is uncomfortable with the assignment, her teacher manipulates the her into following directions by telling her "Imagine that, a big girl like you. Such a shame, I'll have to tell your mother that you wont even try".  This frightens Audre into submission and when she tries to impress the teacher by writing her whole name rather than just the first letter, she is punished again.  Thankfully Audre's mom knows that she is already beyond the learning ability of kindergarten, so she gets her into a first grade class in a Catholic school and encourages the teacher to give spankings if Audre did not follow directions.  The teacher, Mary of Perpetual Help "ran the first grade with an iron hand in the shape of a cross", as described by Lorde.  She split the class into two sections called the Fairies (good students) or the brownies (bad students).   The students could easily end up in the brownies if they did not behave or if they had a hard time learning, and Audre spent most of her time with the brownies because although she could read and write, she had a hard time with numbers.  Both of the teachers that are depicted in this Essay are very harsh and beat down the childrens' self esteem both literally and figuratively.

Writing Simplified In Relation To Paper #2

Since our second essay will be thesis-driven, the information in sections 28-30 of the "Writing Simplified" textbook can help out a lot.  Section twenty-nine is mainly about planning your essay so that writing a first or final draft will come easily.  Understanding the topic, audience and purpose is very important before you start your essay so that your intended audience will understand what you are trying to say.  The purpose of the second paper is to compare or contrast two different teachers that we have either had our own experience with, seen in a movie, or read about in a book in order to explain the role that educators have in their students education.  Once I have decided which teachers I will choose to write about, I can use the outline in section 30 of WS to set up the structure of my paper with a title, thesis, introduction paragraph, body paragraphs with main points and sub-points and a conclusion.  If I utilize the tools that are given to me in the text book, I should be able to write well-structured essays with little stress.

What Makes A Great Teacher

In my opinion there are many different aspects that make someone a great teacher.  The most important of all is a sincere desire to teach.  If an educator truly loves their job, and actually cares about each one of their students they are much more likely to have a successful class because they will create relationships with the students and get to know who they are and how they learn,  Just like Mr. Escalante did in "Stand and Deliver".  Another very important characteristic of a great teacher is bringing fun into the classroom.  Hearing lectures day after day becomes very tedious, and if you are like me, attentiveness begins to dwindle.  This is why I believe all teachers should find ways to make lessons entertaining.  Just as my High School English teacher allowed the class to have debates, there are endless amounts of ways to introduce new activities that are enjoyable and still teach a lesson.   This will keep the students interested and participating with the class.   It is also extremely important for teachers to not only listen to their students, but hear what they have to say.   All too often teachers want to show authority by treating students like they are below them.  I suppose the teacher thinks that this will "make" the students listen and follow the rules, but I have found quite the opposite.  I learned the most from the teachers who treated me as an equal member of society because I felt comfortable around them, and I knew that if I had a question they were more than happy to help me find the solution that worked best for me rather than repeating the part that I did not understand over and over again in hopes that it would suddenly click.  Overall, everything comes back to how much passion a teacher has for their line of work, the more they love it, the better they will teach.

Paper #1 Final Draft

Learning To Live Again

In my short eighteen years of life I have had some undesirable experiences that affected me in every way.  Although some choices that I made were wrong, they ultimately led me to a new perspective on life and molded me into the person that I am today. I have decided to share how I turned my life into something beautiful after suffering through a struggle with drug addiction. What may seems like a fun time can easily change into a struggle to stay alive in a matter of months or years, and I am proud to say that I have found a new drug-free way of life in recovery.

Many kids do some experimenting with recreational drug use, so of coarse at the time I didn’t see any problem with being one of them, especially since there was not much else to do in the small mountain community where I grew up.  On top of boredom, I wanted to find a sense of belonging amongst my piers and the “stoner” crowd was very welcoming.  As I spent more time with this new group of friends I became comfortable, and I was happy to have a group that I belonged to. 

Everything in my life seemed to be going well; I had new friends, I found something that I liked to do and I was still able to keep up on my schoolwork.  I will never forget that invincible feeling that I believe every teenager will experience at some point.   No one and nothing could bring me down from my intoxicated pedestal.  What I didn’t realize was that the easy-going feelings were not satisfying me for much longer and I was beginning to want more.  After some searching I found yet another set of “friends”, but these friends were on a completely different level of what I thought was “fun”.  They had more money, drugs, and parties then anyone I had met before.  As I began spending more time with this group I also moved on to other substances.  Needless to say, I was headed down a bad path and no one could have stopped me. 

As time was going on I was losing who I was and turning into someone I never thought I would be.  I was dishonest, self-centered, selfish and an expert at manipulation.  Not only that, but I was great at playing a “victim” role.  If there was something I wanted, I always had a trick up my sleeve to get it.  My mind was in such a fog that I didn’t care about the damage that I was causing in my relationships with family and loved ones, or the damage to my body and soul.  Growing up, my family was never very religious, but after my drug use began I was certain that there was no such a thing as God.  I carried the weight of the universe on my own shoulders, uninterested in anything that any other person had to tell me.  I was a slave to my lifestyle, and all my time was spent with deceitful people in dark places doing bad things. 

There was nothing moral about that lifestyle, anyone will pretend to be your friend just to get what you have in your pocket, and I was no exception.  I began to steal anything I could get my hands on so that I could continue to support my habit.   As a result, paranoia became the only thing I felt day in and day out.  I knew deep down that I really was not this evil person that I created, but I had to keep using to cover the shame and guilt I felt inside. No longer was I doing this for fun, I was in way too deep and the drugs were doing nothing but keeping me from feeling more physical and emotional pain than I could handle.

Five years had flown by in what seemed like just a few weeks and I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.  After getting into some legal trouble, losing friends, ruining relationships with my family, dropping out of school, degrading my body and more I had finally had enough.  My situation was no longer a joke and the fun was long gone.  I knew that if I didn’t change, the consequences would be fatal, so I made the best decision in my life and went to a treatment center for help.

I put everything I had into finding a new way of life that I could be proud of.  I spent weeks reading literature about addiction and learned tools to cope with emotions that didn’t involve using mood or mind-altering chemicals.  I shared my story with other girls like me and they shared theirs as well.  I kept a journal that I was required to write in every night about what I learned and how I felt.   I had new emotions that I had never experienced before, feelings far beyond what any drug could bring.  I found true happiness and a desire to thrive, I even found a higher power and I could not wait to see what else my new life would bring.  As I continued in my recovery I met new people who were just like me.  I found another place where I felt I belonged and it was actually healthy for me this time. 

I finally found the beauty in my life that had been hidden for so long under artificial contentment.   I was learning to exist is society again, and not only was I existing; I was living a happy, healthy life.   Once I became more acclimated to life outside of the treatment center I started setting goals.  My first goals were to get back into school, graduate high school with a diploma, get my drivers license and get a job.  Within six months of recovery I had accomplished every one of these goals and then some with no problems.  I now know that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to and drugs never have to hold me back again. 

For over a year now I have been working every day to improve myself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Although I have had to face some challenges, I always find myself back where I need to be.   I still attend support groups almost every day where I have made real friends that are more like family, friends that I can actually trust and that trust me as well.  The most amazing thing that I have found in recovery is that no matter what problems come my way I never have to use drugs or alcohol to cope with them.  There is always someone who has been through it before me and as long as I ask, I will always find help.

  I am still not a religious person, but I have decided that I do have a higher power that I like to call God.  Believing in a higher power has helped take a lot of that weight off my shoulders that I carried through active addiction because I have faith that everything is exactly how it is meant to be, and as long as I continue down a road of improvement, my life will be everything I hope for and more.  I can finally live life on life’s terms and make it through almost anything with a smile on my face.

When I decided to clean my life up I never imagined all the blessings that would come along with it.  I have become a productive member of society with a job, a car, a happy healthy and functional relationship with my friends and family and one day, a college degree.  I truly believe that sometimes people have to experience losing everything to find themselves and although I am not proud of my past, I am proud of my present and I will never forget where I came from.

Movie Notes: Stand And Deliver

Mr. Escalante
*Commutes from the suburbs to the inner city to work in a public school in a "bad neighborhood"
*Ends up in a lower level math class {1A} where the students are rowdy, pay little or no attention and some dont even speak english
*After his first day he finds that his car is broken into and the stereo stolen
*Finds creative ways to teach the so that the students pay attention lesson ie. using an apple to teach percentages
*Students try to scare teachers away with intimidation
*There is little structure, resourses and funding at the school so students tend to do whatever they want with little consequences such as fighting, stealing from the school, pranks on teachers or ditching class
*Most teachers are scared away by the class or don't care for the students future.  This teacher has hope for the students and wants more for them than "frying chicken"
*The school is in danger of losing accredidation
*Mr. escalante believes all the students and teachers need for success in "ganas"-desire
*Some of the students really want to learn, but their pride keeps them from showing there desire to succeed to their piers
*Escalante brings structure into the class which helps the students
*Many of the students have difficult lifes at home.  Some of them are more of parents to their younger siblings while their parents work, one boy takes care of his elderly grandmother,  gang involvement, one girl has to work every day in the family resteraunt because her father wants her to stick with the family.
*The students start to have fun in class and enjoy the lessons, they get to go on field trips
*Many of the other teachers make excuses about the why the kids can't take higher level of classes and Mr. escalante wants to teach summer classes to do everything he can to help the students succeed.
* By the next school year the students are taking calculus!  Mr. escalante wants the kids to get college credit by passing the AP test. He makes up a contract for the students and their parents to sign allowing them to take an extra class every day and stay late after school.
*One of the boys in the class is offered a job and wants to drop the extra class and Mr. escalante teaches him that sometimes you have to see the road ahead instead of just the turn that is right in front of you.
[think about your future in making decisions]
*Escalante works 60 hours a week and volunteers nights and spends no time w/his own family.
*Over-working himself, escalante has a heart attack
* Students have trouble adjusting to a sub who doesn't even know about math
*when suggested to stay out of work for a monthh to recover, escalante leaves the hospital after two days to get back to the class
*after taking the math ap calculus test, every student passed
*Mr. Escalante had faith in these students regarless of their circumstances and pushed them to success
*After suspition that there was cheating by the students, they began to lose faith that they had before.
*One of the administrators thinks that the students really did cheat because Mr. Escalante put them under too much pressure.
*Mr. Escalante feels guilty for the students being accused of cheating because they worked for two years just to end up under investigation for cheating.  He fears that the kids will lose their faith in him as well
*Escalante finds out that the students are accused of cheating not because of the similar wrong answers, but because of a lack of wrong answers and finishing the test with time to spare.  The students were being punished for doing exceptionally well on the tests because of the academic levels in the school district. 
* Escalante feels that the people investigating the test scores are being racist.
*Students decide to re-take the test to prove that they passed.
*After studying all day and night the students go to re-take the test and they all score either a perfect grade or above average yet again.
* In later years Garfield high school went on to have more and more students pass the AP Caluculus test every year

I really enjoyed this movie because It was yet another story of a desire to suceed leading to success.  Mr. Escalante had faith in these students when no one else did and he took them from barely middle school math level to surpassing college level.

The best teacher that I have had was my English teacher from senior year in high school.  She tought at Spectrum Alternative school, which was much like the vocational education program the Mike Rose wrote  about.  My favorite thing about her was that she always found some way to adapt to the learning styles of different students, and she always made class very entertaining.  We often had class debates where she would read the topc, and then all of the students would choose to be on either side of the room that they chose which coincided with their perspective on the topic.  This was a very entertaining way for all of us to have our voices heard. 
My least favorite teacher that i have had was my 6th grade teacher Mrs. Teeter.   She was very loud and overpowering towards her students and was always trying to intimidate us with raising her voice or punishment.  I didn't really feel like I learned much in her class, because I was afraid to ask for help.

Main Idea

The main idea that I wanted the readers of my first paper to understand is that you can do anything that you set your mind too, and sometimes you have go through hell to see what life really has to offer.

*new rough draft* Learning To Live Again

In my short eighteen years of life I have had some undesirable experiences that affected me in every way.  Although some choices that I made were wrong, they ultimately led me to a new perspective on life and molded me into the person that I am today. I have decided to share how I turned my life into something beautiful after suffering through a struggle with drug addiction. What may seems like a fun time can easily change into a struggle to stay alive in a matter of months or years, and I am proud to say that I have found a new drug-free way of life in recovery.

Many kids do some experimenting with recreational drug use, so of coarse at the time I didn’t see any problem with being one of them, especially since there was not much else to do in the small mountain community where I grew up.  On top of boredom, I wanted to find a sense of belonging amongst my piers and the “stoner” crowd was very welcoming.  As I spent more time with this new group of friends I became comfortable, and I was happy to have a group that I belonged to. 

Everything in my life seemed to be going well; I had new friends, I found something that I liked to do and I was still able to keep up on my schoolwork.  I will never forget that invincible feeling that I believe every teenager will experience at some point.   No one and nothing could bring me down from my intoxicated pedestal.  What I didn’t realize was that the easy-going feelings were not satisfying me for much longer and I was beginning to want more.  After some searching I found yet another set of “friends”, but these friends were on a completely different level of what I thought was “fun”.  They had more money, drugs, and parties then anyone I had met before.  As I began spending more time with this group I also moved on to other substances.  Needless to say, I was headed down a bad path and no one could have stopped me. 

As time was going on I was losing who I was and turning into someone I never thought I would be.  My mind was in such a fog that I didn’t care about the damage that I was causing in my relationships with family and loved ones, or the damage to my body and soul.  I spent all my time with deceitful people in dark places doing bad things and it eventually caught up with me.

Five years had flown by in what seemed like just a few weeks and I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.  After getting into some legal trouble, losing friends, ruining relationships with my family, dropping out of school, degrading my body and more I had finally had enough.  My situation was no longer a joke and the fun was long gone.  I knew that if I didn’t change, the consequences would be fatal, so I made the best decision in my life and went to a treatment center for help.

I put everything I had into finding a new way of life that I could be proud of.  I spent weeks reading literature about addiction and learned tools to cope with emotions that don’t involve using mood or mind-altering chemicals.  I shared my story with other girls like me and they shared theirs as well.  I kept a journal that I was required to write in every night about what I learned and how I felt.   I had new feelings that I had never experienced before, feelings far beyond what any drug could bring.  I found true happiness and a desire to thrive, and I could not wait to see what else my new life would bring.  As I continued in my recovery I met new people who were just like me.  I found another place where I felt I belonged and it was actually healthy for me this time. 

I finally found the beauty in my life that had been hidden for so long under artificial contentment.   I was learning to exist is society again, and not only was I existing; I was living a happy, healthy life.   Once I became more acclimated to life outside of the treatment center I started setting goals.  My first goals were to get back into school, graduate high school with a diploma, get my drivers license and get a job.  Within six months of recovery I had accomplished every one of these goals and then some with no problems.  I now know that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to and drugs never have to hold me back again. 

For over a year now I have been working every day to improve myself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Although I have had to face some challenges, I always find myself back where I need to be.   The most amazing thing that I have found in recovery is that no matter what problems come my way I never have to use drugs or alcohol to cope with them.  I can live life on life’s terms and make it through anything with a smile on my face.

When I decided to clean my life up I never imagined all the blessings that would come along with it.  I have become a productive member of society with a job, a car, a happy healthy and functional relationship with my friends and family and one day a college degree.  I truly believe that sometimes people have to experience losing everything to find themselves and although I am not proud of my past, I am proud of my present and I will never forget where I came from.

ATTENTION CLASSMATES!!

I apologize for this, but I have decided to create a new rough draft. i would really appreciate if you guys could read it and email the answers to the questionnaire to me.

my email is abbeylevenstein@student.olympic.edu
or
abbeylevenstein94@gmail.com

Thank you much:)

Tools For A Great Paper

After reading through a few sections in my text book I have found a few strategies that can help me create a great first paper.   Throughout my education I have been taught the basic set-up for a proper formal paper as far as structure.   This is fine, but  I am more interested in more specific suggestions that I am finding in the Writing Simplified textbook.  Evaluating the structure of a paragraph is very important for me because I tend to jump impulsively from one idea to another, and taking more time to set up each idea into a paragraph will help my paper to flow smoothly.   In my textbook, I found questions that I can use to evaluate each paragraph that is written to ensure that I am hitting every important point and giving specifics and details to support my point.
Since this first paper is about a personal experience I can write "my truth" instead of clarifying fact and opinions.  What I mean by this is that I will be writing in my own voice about my own experience, not to persuade the reader in a certain direction, but to inform them of what my experience was.   I have confidence that I will be able to create a sufficient paper with the new tools I have acquired from this class so far.

Rough Draft- Learning To Drive.

Learning to drive was one of my favorite experiences that I have had growing up..  Although I knew it would take a lot of practice before I got mylicense, I was ecstatic, and  I could not wait to get behind the wheel.  My Mom used to take me into large parking lots and let me drive her green subaru with her careful instruction.  She tought me how to properly accelerate and break, when to use a blinker, and most importantly "If you see break lights ahead, take your foot off the gas immediately".  I can still remember her nervous direction like it was just yesterday.  Once my "test drive" was over,  I felt completely empowered and excited that I had finally reached this right of passage.  After what seemed like years of practice I passed my drivers test with flying colors.  Just seeing my own car in the driveway and knowing that I could go anywhere I wanted was one of the best feelings I have ever experienced, freedom.
There are many different things that need to be done to become a licensed driver such as a learners permit, practice and patience.  When it was time for me to get my learners permit I knew that I had to take time to study the learning material.  Although it was tedious and time consuming it was well worth it when I walked out of the DOL, permit in hand.  Once i had the permit, it was time to start practicing behind the wheel.  I was always eager to drive my family members anywhere they wanted to go.  My mom used to call me her "personal chauffeur" because she got to sit in the passenger seat and tell me where to go.  At times i would get impatient because I wanted to take the car out on my own, but I still didnt have my license.  After seven months with a permit my eighteenth birthday finally came and I was able to get m y license. 
Learning to drive can somewhat be compared to learning to ride a bicycle.  It takes hours of practice and making mistakes to perfect it.  Although I didn't get into an accident when learning to drive I did make mistakes and quickly learned from them.  I can still remember learning to ride a bike, and having that same feeling of accomplishment that I had when I got my Drivers license.  Having my drivers license has been very convenient the past few months because it enables me to to fulfil all of my obligations, such as school at Olympic College, and my job at PETCO.  Not having to rely on other people to take me where I need to go is great because I never have to worry about being late or missing an event because I could not find a ride.  Overall, I am very happy that I learned how to drive.

Cubing excercize #2 Zip-lock Bags

Zip lock bags can be very helpful for people on-the-go.  They can be used to store food in a mess-free way so that the food can be stored in a purse, brief case, or backpack without creating a mess of crumbs.  Zip-lock bags not only store food outside of the home, but they are also used to keep perishable items fresh in your house by keepoing air away from the food, ultimately saving money.  Using zip lock bags can decrease the amount of food that has to be disposed of due to mold. Although food storage is the most common use of zip-lock bags, they can also be used for anything you can fit inside of them.  You can store makeup, electronics or other non-waterproof items in zip-lock bags to decrease the chance of water damage.  This can also potentially save hundreds of dollars that may have been spent on replacing water-damaged electronics.  Zip-lock backs are very helpful and logical purchase for anyone.

Notes About Cubing

Describing the subject can help give a mental image of what the subject is. How it looks, feels, what is does and what the purpose is.
Analyzing the subject can help the reader to get a better idea of what components make up the object being described.
Comparing the object can give the reader a better idea of what the object is similar to if they have never seen one for themselves.
Giving examples of how the object can be applied in real life gives the reader a better idea of their personal opinion on the item and if they want/need it.

Describing Cell Phones

What defines cellphones in my opinion is staying connected with friends, loved ones, business obligations, employers, etc.  There are hundrends maybe even thousands of different styles of cell phones.  They can be almost any color shape or size that you want.  Some have touch screens, some have sliding keyboardes, some are big, some are small.  Many cell phones can be used to surf the internet while others cannot.  Nowadays anyone can store music, pictures, contacts, future dates and events or school work on a cell phone.  Some people prefer a basic phone that is simply for making calls, while others have very advanced cell phones that hold endless amounts of personal information such as documents, contact information or anything imaginable.

Blog Posts

Blog posts are helping me prepare for my first paper because I am collecting ideas from the topics I have been studying so far.  Reading the texts that have been assigned and posting blogs about them is all practice for the formal papers.  Keeping myself constantly working on these blogs  is getting me more comfortable with reading, writing, prewriting, taking notes etc.  I can post blogs about anything and get feedback from classmates, so logically I could post ideas for my paper and ask my piers to give me feedback.  Sometimes coming up with ideas can be very difficult for me, so that section in our textbook we read about all different types of prewriting helped me tremendously.  Prewriting techniques such as free writing and stream of consciousness both begin with writing about something that may be completely insignificant to the assignment, but the point is that it opens up your mind to create new ideas that can ultimately be used in a formal paper.   If I am struggling to find ideas for my paper I can create a blog just to get my mind working and I might end up with a new idea by the time my blog is posted.   

Mike rose

Mike Rose felt that Vocation Ed was basically just a place to keep the, lets say, "academically challenged" students busy.  The teachers did not show much interest in their students unless they were disciplining them.  Some of his teachers like Brother  Dill were very overpowering and would smack the students when they were out of line.  On the other hand he also had Mr. Montez, the Spanish teacher who was very introverted and showed little, if any authority over his rowdy classroom.   I have had experiences with over the top strict teachers who would shout or try to intimidate students, as well as quiet and reserved teachers who let the students have reign of the class.

 Voc. Ed  helped Rose to learn more about himself and his piers as people, rather than the actual curriculum that was taught. 

 The students in this learning program were labeled as “slow” and out casted by the rest of the school so they each  developed different ways of coping with their dereliction.  Rose found that a lot of the kids would conform to their label and become the underachievers that society labeled them as, and this would seem to soften the blow to their self esteem.   Mike had a hard time catching up in math because he felt that in his former years of education he was not taught to solve equations in a way that was compatible with his learning style.

I think that school can be disorienting to students like Ken Harvey because people are very quick to judge and place labels on each other.  Ken copes with this by ignoring the stereotypes and stating that he just wants to be average.

So far I don’t find college to be disorienting at all.  As long as I listen and follow directions everything works out just fine, and if I don’t understand something I can find someone who is more than happy to help me understand.  In my opinion the most efficient way to lessen feelings of disorientation is to stay organized and don’t be afraid to ask for help. 

My educational experience has been very similar to Rose’s because I found myself learning more about who I am as a person than anything.

Ben Vs Malcom

After reading both of these autobiographies I am completely astonished.  It is so amazing to me how motivated both of these individuals were to reach a goal, through thick and thin.  I really enjoyed both of the texts immensely.   I found there to be a vast amount of similarities between the two, other than different times and settings, they were extremely alike.  Both of these men had an incredible thirst for knowledge and regardless of Malcom being imprisoned, or Benjamin being indentured, they both were able to continue on their quest for more educational substance.  In both texts the men (or boy in Benjamin’s case) came up with ways to teach themselves how to read or write.  While Malcom copied the dictionary, Benjamin would set up writing exercises.  Not only did they both find a way to practice their skill, but they also were able to find ways to critique themselves, improving certain areas where need be.   Malcom X would stay up all hours of the night reading book after book and Benjamin Franklin would find a way to "borrow" books from his place of work and read them all night just to return them in the morning before anyone noticed they had been missing.  Another alikeness among the pair is that neither man did this for any prize or "degree".  It was solely for their own self-enlightenment that they spent years of time and insurmountable effort.  This pair of autobiographies is truly an immaculate example of what any human is capable of achieving if they have a yearning for inner success.  

Pre-Writing

In my past  I have used quite a few different types of pre-writing. Some were more beneficial to me than others, but they were all somewhat helpful.  Brainstorming different topics on paper about what I am planning to write always helps me formulate ideas.   Usually any pre-writing technique that involves  drawing some type of visual helps me the most.  Often times just putting pen to paper and scribbling can help to open my mind.  Using the branching technique is something that I often did throughout high school when preparing for a paper.  Seeing all of my ideas in front of me makes it easier for me to choose the ones that I am going to use, and if I can look at them on paper I can then organize them in the order that seems best. Once I have a rough draft, I like to go through and edit spelling and grammar, or just move around sentences to create the best "flow" possible.  Having another person read my rough draft and give me suggestions is a great help as well because they can show me a different perspective from my own.  Reading the paper out loud to myself also helps me to get a better idea of where corrections need to be made.  After this is done I am usually ready to rewrite a second draft, or type a final draft. Reading from the "Writing Simplified" textbook gave me a lot of new ideas for pre-writing that I might be interested in trying for my first assignment.  The techniques of "freewriting" and "looping" seem like they would be great ways to get my brain flowing in a more creative way, and I think I will use these for future assignments.

collaboration 2

After reading Malcolm X "Learning to Read" we concluded that this can help us because he wrote about his intense desire to read and his passion to learn. It just started out that he just wanted to read and write, fix his penmanship, after which had started into something bigger than that. He carried on with his passion for writing and reading to help other people along the way. We could also write in this way, to help other people who may read our paper to understand and to try and acheive something for themselves. He wasnt doing this for a badge, or a degree, he did it for himself. His own self gain, and eventually to help teach other people the ways of Elijah Muhammad. He gives us a good view on what we should write about, what inspires us and motivates us.

Collaboration : Abbey, Emmy and Nahshon

We understand that our assignment is to write a paper about a real learning experience that we have had in our past.  We want to draw the reader in with creative writing, using fact and models.  We need to use a lot of details to describe our personal experience and toconvey to the reader exactly what we want them to get from the paper. We need to include our obstacles and solutions to create a connection between the reader and the writer. Although the paper does not need to be formal, it must be written in proper english.  The use of casual writing will help to connect the reader to what they are reading.  Finally, we also understand that since this is a paper about a personal experience, we can use use the words I, me, or my.

English 101 Assignment#1

After reading the two sample Educational Narratives I have found that I can certainly use parts of each of them as a model for my first paper assignment.
I really liked the way that the Computer Programming narrative was set up.  The author stating exactly what he wanted to express in the piece struck me in a positive way because it prepared me for what I was about to read as well as giving me another perspective that may have been different from one i could have came up with on my own.  I believe that that was a perfect start to a paper and I would like to start my first paper in a similar way.  I also like the fact that the author gave a small backround to his story to make it more personal and give an answer to how and why he started computer programming and creating websites.   Once I begin my first big writing assignment I would like to answer the questions why I learned what  I learned, how I learned it, when I learned it and what made me want to learn about it.  By giving backround information I will be able to answer these questions just as Feross did.
I also found a few aspects of the second narrative that I liked and can use in my own work such as describing obstacles and providing solutions.  Every interesting story has a problem that needs to be solved and I can use that in my paper to provide a sense of accomplishment.  I also really liked that at the end of the second narrative, Joshua J. Romero concludes by telling the reader what he got from the entire experience of becoming google free and how it affected him.  This is very appealing to me because it is very important in my life to learn a lesson from every experience and that is something that i will be expressing in my future assignments.

English 101

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