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.