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.