First Paragraph W/ Thesis Statement Paper # 3 (November)

         

First Paragraph 

 Everyday across the country, millions of young students wake up around sunrise and begin the tedious task of getting through their morning routine in order to get to class on time. Some of these students are early risers and take well to the task while others struggle just to get out of bed. Attention span is key in order to be able to digest the information overload that students from Kindergarten through High School face every day. Matthew Shulman from the U.S. News & World Report website, citing a study about the effects of REM sleep, wrote “Researchers at the University of Montreal report that a study of young children showed that those who slept significantly fewer hours than the recommended 10 were more hyperactive and impulsive than those who got plenty of shuteye and scored lower on two cognitive skills tests.” The study implies that students who sleep less will be more likely to act up in class and will give teachers a much more difficult task while teaching their students. Studies like this one and an abundance of others show a lack of sleep causes not only learning problems, but can also lead to serious health issues. 

Thesis Statement

A change to the school system from such an early morning rise to a 10 a.m. start, would dramatically improve learning capabilities of our children and would lead to a more productive and healthy population.

6 Quotes From Authors From Class That Support My Argument (11/26)

John Gatto from “Against School” online “Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time in a teachers' lounge can vouch for the low energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to be found there. When asked whythey feel bored, the teachers tend to blame the kids, as you might expect. Who wouldn't get bored teaching students who are rude and interested only in grades?”

Ken Robinson taken from his book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything  “Those students whose minds work differently—and we’re talking about many students here; perhaps even the majority of them—can feel alienated from the whole culture of education”

Mike Rose on his resolutions article ““to have more young people get an engaging and challenging education.”

John Gatto from “Against School” online “Mass schooling of a compulsory nature really got its teeth into the United States between 1905 and 1915, though it was conceived of much earlier and pushed for throughout most of the nineteenth century. The reason given for this enormous upheaval of family life and cultural traditions was, roughly speaking, threefold:

1) To make good people.

2) To make good citizens.

3) To make each person his or her personal best.”

bell hooks from the class selection in “Critical Thinking” Handout “Thinking is an action. For all aspiring intellectuals, thoughts are the laboratory where one goes to pose questions and find answers, and the place where visions of theory and praxis come together”.

bell hooks “Critical Thinking“  handout “When students are fully engaged, professors no longer assume the sole leadership role in the classroom”

The Authors That Agree With Me (11/26)

Over the quarter we have read many authors that I learned from. Some I agreed with and some not but I learned something from them all. The Authors that agree with me the most are John Gatto, Ken Robinson, Mike Rose, and Paolo Freire. I really like the ideas that Ken Robinson puts forth and listening to him is inspiring to say the least. He seems like an author I would really enjoy reading other works from and to learn more about his experiences that lead him to his great ideas. John Gatto I probably agree with the most as far as his opinions on the state of the school system and his views on the history of education related to the teaching methods and regulations that we have today. Mike Rose’s experiences are great to read and he gives vivid images of the experiences he had in school in his writings and really explains the teachers and their methods he had in great detail. Paolo Friere gives a great alternative to what he calls “the banking” method of teaching and explains the system and the proposed fix in a great detail. I had to re-read many sections of Paolo Friere’s “The Banking Method of Education” to get what he meant because his writing is so detailed but that is why I really enjoyed reading it.  

Most Important Lesson I Ever Learned (October?)

    I have had many lessons throughout my life I consider to be important. Some from learning by trial and error, some taught to me by someone or something else. One that stands out to me is that family is the most important part of life. Without my family I would be lost and I wouldn't be where I am or who I am without every one of them. When I was younger, I did not appreciate the people in my life as I do today. For instance, my brother and I were very competitive growing up and we used to fight emotionally as well as physically. Over the years we have become become best friends and I treasure our relationship.

  Family helps you when you are at your worst and they teach you to become the person you are. They love you no matter what you do and they guide you through your ups and downs. They give everything they have to help you and they work to build you up and let you know when you are wrong. Many people don't have the relationship that I have with my family, and many people have very strong relationships.

Thesis Statement & First Paragraph Paper # 2 (10/31)

Thesis Statement

Ms. Hamer and Mr. Collier were great teachers and had the ability to garner my attention and focus to the subject matter they taught, they did so in different ways.

First Paragraph

My first year of public school was the 7th grade as I had been homeschooled by my mom and grandma from kindergarten through 6th grade. Although I had many teachers that year, the one who made the transition from homeschool to public school a lot less stressful was Ms. Hamer. She was known to take her students outside to energize their bodies and minds by having the kids play sports that were modified to include English lessons. The ambiance for her classroom was very inviting but for a 12 year old kid, being outside was what we drooled over like hungry dogs when they hear the dog food bag shake.  “Tag you’re in!” a student would exclaim, which usually meant it was your turn to give an answer to a question followed by the absolute fulfillment of kicking a soccer ball as hard as you could toward a large weathered net.  I don’t quite know how it worked, but my brain was able to suck in information like a sponge whether I was kicking soccer balls or defending the flag of my team in an unrelated but equally entertaining Mr. Hamer sponsored activity. Ms. Hamer was very soft spoken although her ability to motivate had her students hanging on every word that she so calmly voiced. She was a relatively small person physically; maybe 5 ft even and weighed enough that a 12 year old could hoist her above their shoulders. Her size was misleading however as the content of her message and her ability to relate gained the respect of even the most dispassionate and cold-blooded mischief makers.

The Two Teachers I Chose to Write About for Paper # 2 (10/31)

For paper # 2, I chose to write about my 7^th grade English teacher, Ms. Hamer, and my 10^th Grade Astronomy teacher, Mr. Collier. I chose to write about these two teachers because they played a huge role in my life, not only with education, but also personally. Ms. Hamer was my first English teacher besides my mom because I was homeschooled by my mom until that point. She was a very outgoing and inspirational person and she made my life with public school a much easier transition and she helped me with some personal family issues. Mr. Collier helped me academically and personally as well but in a different way. He wasn’t as involved in my life outside of school but he inspired my love of astronomy and that love has been in my life for over ten years. I don’t think I’ll ever stop studying the stars and I credit him for that. His class was also a reason for me to want to go to school, especially as a teenager since I was definitely in the highlight of my teenage rebellion career. I wanted to go to school just to hear him speak about Astronomy and that kept me grounded in other classes as well. 

James A. Garfield High School vs Welton Academy (10/29)

James A. Garfield High School is a public school in a lower income area in East LA. The school is rampant in gang issues and drug problems and most of the students are not expected to achieve very much in life. It seems like they (students) are there only to comply with state law and learning anything takes a back burner. The conditions of the school don’t seem too bad given the area the school is located and the time of the film. Still not ideal though. Most of the student caucus is Hispanic. Welton Academy is a well off prep school with mostly Caucasian students. The school is well kept and the teachers are generally well educated professors. The difference mainly is the wealth difference between the schools students and faculty, as well as the location of the schools. Most of the students at James A. Garfield likely grew up in a lower class neighborhood and by the time they reach high school don’t have big aspirations. The students at Welton are more likely from more well off areas geographically and have wealthier parents. The reasoning for the testing group’s suspicion of cheating at James A. Garfield High School was most likely due to the area of the school the students and their race as rather than any real evidence.

Mr. Escalante and Mr. Keating (10/29)

           Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante had different teaching styles and different situations with the classes they were teaching. Mr. Keating taught at a “higher class” prep school with rigid standards and Mr. Escalante taught at an inner city public school in a low income neighborhood with gang related problems and students who were less than motivated to learn. Both teachers started with an agenda to inspire their students, and both wanted to change the way their students thought. Mr. Keating was trying to take students who had previously been accustomed to a strict, regimented style of learning and open their minds to a more creative way to learn and think. Mr. Keating went to school at the same prep school that his students were attending and he knew how strict it was and wanted to make a difference. Mr. Escalante was basically handed a class of troubled teens and his goal was to take an academically unstructured class, and teach them a subject they never thought they would have the ability to learn. He wanted to change their mindsets from teens who saw no future in sight, to high achieving productive members of society. Mr. Keating had class expeditions outside of class as well as unique activities inside the classroom to motivate the students to participate. Mr. Escalante spent time with his students outside of class and showed a huge interest in their lives outside of class. Mr. Keating also took on a huge role in his students personal lives as well. 

Mr. Escalante compared to Mr. Macfarland (10/24)

Mr. MacFarland and Mr. Escalante were very similar to each other in many ways. They both took students who seemed inherently uninterested in learning and gave them inspiration and desire to learn the subjects each teacher taught. Mike Rose mentions a student who was sort of a smart ass and an alcoholic who would give Mr. MacFarland a hard time during class. Rose then goes on to say that MacFarland was able to guide the uninterested students into become active participants in his class. This is very similar to how Mr. Escalante took his students from academic failure and disinterest in learning to students passing A.P. Calculus exams. Mr. Escalante spent time outside of class with his students, even having them over to his home. In the elective English class that MacFarland taught and Rose took, Mr. MacFarland also regularly ad the students over to his apartment for study sessions. In the scene were Mr. Escalante goes to the restaurant where Anna works to speak to her father, he mentions the importance of education and his desire for Anna to go to college. Mr. MacFarland also guided Mike Rose towards going to college, even going so far as to get him accepted at the college Mr. MacFarland went to. He also helped Rose get loans so he could attend the college.  

Stand and Deliver Part II- The rise of Mr. Escalante (10/24)

I thought the testing people were quite the racists. The only bright side of the racism was that one of the racists was played by Andy Garcia, who is an awesome actor. Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead = Best movie ever! They couldn’t believe the students could pass the test on their own and yet they did twice. At first, Mr. Escalante seemed shaken by the experience. He talked to his wife about the possibility of switching professions to a more profitable one where he would work less hours and have more respect. Then the students fixed up the bug for him and he saw their respect and admiration of him first hand. Mr. Escalante was great in the scene where he stands up to the testing services people in defense of his class. The second part of the movie was a lot better than the first. You can really see the value in Mr. Escalante teaching at the school and the way his relationship with his students blossomed in the second half. It was cool to see how the amount of students passing the A.P. Calculus exam raised over the years that was displayed before the credits came at the end of the film. Also, the Stand and Deliver song playing during the credits is a must for anyone’s “jam rock” playlist on their iPods (joking). 

Was Mr. Escalante a Good Teacher? (10/22)

Mr. Escalante was a good teacher in certain areas and others not so much. I think he probably was the right choice for the circumstances at James A. Garfield High School where he was teaching but that wouldn’t be the case in most situations in my opinion. I guess he probably would have tailored his personality based on the environment he was teaching at but I think the term “right guy for the job” definitely applies to this situation. When he went to one of his students place of work and talked to her father about the importance of her staying in school and the value of understanding basic mathematics, I thought that was an excellent showing of a great teacher. He most likely left a lasting impression on is student to continue pushing forward with her education and she will most likely never forget that part. I know it seems to work in the movie, but the way he talked to some of his students seemed inappropriate to me. Since this is a true story, I can imagine that some of the things that happened in the film got “hollywooded” quite a bit so the real circumstance could have been much different. That being said, I would say that being the right man for the job doesn’t mean you’re the best teacher, but it can mean you’re the best teacher for the given situation. 

Formal Paper #3- Final Draft

Sleep for Education

Everyday across the country, millions of young students wake up around sunrise and begin the tedious task of getting through their morning routine in order to get to class on time. Some of these students are early risers and take well to the task while others struggle just to get out of bed. Attention span is key to being able to digest the information overload that students from kindergarten through high school face every day. Matthew Shulman from the U.S. News & World Report website, citing a study about the effects of REM sleep, wrote, “Researchers at the University of Montreal report that a study of young children showed that those who slept significantly fewer hours than the recommended 10 were more hyperactive and impulsive than those who got plenty of shuteye and scored lower on two cognitive skills tests.” The study implies that students who sleep less will be more likely to act up in class, and teachers will have a much more difficult time teaching these students. Studies like this one and an abundance of others show that lack of sleep not only causes learning problems but can also lead to serious health issues. A change to the school system from such an early morning rise to a 10 a.m. start could dramatically improve learning capabilities of our children and could lead to a more productive and healthy population.

There are many arguments for why a 10 a.m. start would not work. Many will say that it would require parents adjusting their work schedules so they can accommodate the new standard. It would also require, in some cases, a change in day care and babysitting situations. Another argument might be that it would be unfair to teachers who have grown accustomed to the 7-to-4 schedule they’ve had for 100 years. It might also be assumed that a 10 a.m. start would lead to a 5 p.m. finish, which would wreak havoc on parents’ work schedules.

All these and other arguments and reasons for why not to have a 10 a.m. start overlook one important fact: it’s not about the teachers or the parents, it’s about the students. If the point of education is indeed to educate and not to babysit, the rationale for changing to a 10 a.m. start would be obvious: Students who get more sleep will be more engaged and less disruptive, and, in most cases, more eager to learn. With students more awake and engaged from the time they start class, their ability to learn and concentrate on the subject matter would increase, causing a decrease in the amount of time required to have class. Following this logic, changing the school day from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. to one that starts at 10 a.m. and ends at, say, 3 p.m. would result in a more productive school day with less time required of the students and teachers.

Mothers all over the country are practically pulling their hair out attempting to get their kids to wake up each and every school day. It’s extremely stressful for parents, especially the ones who have to be at work bright and early, to have to worry that if their child misses another day of class that they will get a call from the truant officer. Even if the parents succeed in getting their kids to school, they have to worry that their sleep-deprived and exhausted children might cause a stir in class or sneak off campus once they arrive.  

In the movie Chalk, Mr. Lowrey had a hard time controlling his students. They were disruptive, did not respect him, and seemed, overall, uninterested in anything he had to say. He of course was a new teacher and eventually was able to figure out how to get through to them; but should it really have been so hard that it took the whole school year to get to anything that resembled a cooperative class? It was such a bad experience for Mr. Lowrey that even after accomplishing the great feat of learning to be, from all appearances in the film, the best teacher in the school, he seriously doubted his resolve to continue to teach. Of course, he needed to learn to be a quality teacher; that being said, he would have most likely been able to reach his stride a lot sooner if he already had a willing and cooperative class.  The students in his class would have been much less a nuisance if they were accustomed to a proper sleep routine that would include a later start time.

Many articles are written about teaching methods to open the minds of students and help them unleash their creativity.  Many of these writings propose worthwhile methods to help students become successful. Examples of these include bell hooks, John Gatto, and Mike Rose, whose writings offer inspiring proposals for changes to the school system to encourage critical thinking. In his article “Against School” on wesjones.com, John Gatto writes, “Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time in a teachers’ lounge can vouch for the low energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to be found there. When asked why they feel bored, the teachers tend to blame the kids, as you might expect. Who wouldn’t get bored teaching students who are rude and interested only in grades?” Isn’t it possible that both the boredom the teachers feel and the rudeness the teachers see in their students that Gatto points out in the quote above might be alleviated by adjusting the start time of the school day?

In an article on the Washington Post website about education resolutions for the New Year, Mike Rose proposes as a resolution “to have more young people get an engaging and challenging education.” That was his number-one education resolution. It would be easier to give well-rested students a more engaging and challenging education than it would a group of half-awake, brain-dead troublemakers. In his book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, Ken Robinson, an expert on critical thinking, writes, “Those students whose minds work differently—and we’re talking about many students here; perhaps even the majority of them—can feel alienated from the whole culture of education” (39). To add to that statement, students’ minds also operate differently with varying levels of sleep.  

A quick search on Google for “effects of sleep deprivation” pulls up many negative articles related to mental and physical health issues. Camille Peri writes in a WebMd.com article, “First, it impairs attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem solving. This makes it more difficult to learn efficiently. Second, during the night, various sleep cycles play a role in ‘consolidating’ memories in the mind. If you don’t get enough sleep, you won’t be able to remember what you learned and experienced during the day.”  The article goes on to explain that serious health problems can arise from a lack of sleep over time. These health risks include heart disease, heart failure, stroke, high blood pressure and so on. It did not say the age group of the study but presumably this study was based on adults. If that is true, and it is dangerous for adults to get inadequate sleep, how dangerous is it for children—who require even more sleep than adults— to have less sleep for 10 – 13 years before officially becoming adults?

Andrew Ward, an expert on the brain, was quoted on the Stone Hearth News website as saying, “Sleepiness disrupts the coordinated activity of an important network of brain regions; the impaired function of this network is also implicated in Alzheimer’s disease.” The brain is the most valuable organ that human beings have. Without it, we never would have discovered fire, put a man on the moon, or saved millions lives with innovations in medical technology. Why would we want to risk the health of children’s brains and their bodies by depriving them of the simplest form of preventive health care: adequate sleep?

The end result of switching to a 10 a.m. start time for schools grades K-12 would be to dramatically increase productivity amongst students as well as teachers. The overall health of the U.S. population would be improved in future generations, and perhaps mankind would see a new wave of discoveries by human beings using fully rested and functional brains. Teachers and parents would be less stressed out as they will be dealing with less hyperactive kids who are more eager to accomplish goals and to learn. The research has been done. The answer is obvious. All that’s left is for action to take place with a very simple change that could alter the lives of millions for the better and create a society of overachievers.

Works Cited

Shulman, Matthew. “Kids and Sleep: Why They Need More.” U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report LP. Web. 6 Sep. 2007

Chalk. Dir. Mike Akel. Perf.  Troy Schremmer, Janelle Schremmer, Shannon Haragan. Virgil Films, 2006. Film.  

Gatto, John. “Against School.” Harper's Magazine. Harper's Magazine Foundation. Wesjones.com. Web. Sep. 2003

Rose, Mike. “Mike Rose’s Resolution on Education.” The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. Web. 1 May. 2011

Robinson, Ken. The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. New York: Penguin, 2009. Print.

Peri, Camille. “Coping With Excessive Sleepiness.” WebMD. WebMD, LLC. Web. 14 Sep. 2012

Ward, Andrew. “How sleep deprivation impacts dementia, different types of memory, and learning.” Stone Hearth News. Web. 16 Oct. 2012

Formal Paper # 3 Rough Draft

Sleep for Education

Everyday across the country, millions of young students wake up around sunrise and begin the tedious task of getting through their morning routine in order to get to class on time. Some of these students are early risers and take well to the task while others struggle just to get out of bed. Attention span is key in order to be able to digest the information overload that students from Kindergarten through High School face every day. Matthew Shulman from the U.S. News & World Report website, citing a study about the effects of REM sleep, wrote “Researchers at the University of Montreal report that a study of young children showed that those who slept significantly fewer hours than the recommended 10 were more hyperactive and impulsive than those who got plenty of shuteye and scored lower on two cognitive skills tests.” The study implies that students who sleep less will be more likely to act up in class and will give teachers a much more difficult task while teaching their students. Studies like this one and an abundance of others show a lack of sleep causes not only learning problems, but can also lead to serious health issues. A change to the school system from such an early morning rise to a 10 a.m. start, would dramatically improve learning capabilities of our children and would lead to a more productive and healthy population.

There are many arguments for why a 10 a.m. start would not work. Many will say that it would require parents adjusting their work schedules so they can accommodate the new standard. It would also require in some cases, a change in day care and babysitting situations. Another argument would be that it would be unfair to teachers who have grown accustomed to the 7 to 4 schedule they’ve had for 100 years. It would also be assumed that a 10 a.m. start would lead to a 5 pm finish and that would wreak havoc on parents work schedules. All these and other arguments and excuses for why not to have a 10 am start forget one important fact; it’s not about them. If the point of education is indeed to educate and not to babysit, the reasoning behind changing to a 10 am start would be obvious. Students who get more sleep will be more engaged, less disruptive, and in most cases will be more eager to learn. With students more awake and engaged from the time they start class, their ability to learn and concentrate on the subject matter will increase, causing the amount of time required to have class to decrease. So we can take a 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. school day and change it to a 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. schedule, and have a more productive school day with less time required of the students and teachers. Mothers all over the country are practically pulling their hair out while attempting to get their kids to wake up each and every day.

In the movie Chalk, Mr. Lowrey has the hardest time controlling his students. They were disruptive, did not respect him, and seemed overall uninterested in anything he had to say. He of course was a new teacher and eventually was able to figure out how to get through to them, but should it really have been so hard that it took the whole school year to get to anything that resembled a cooperative class? It was such a bad experience for Mr. Lowrey that even after accomplishing such a great feat and learning to be, what looked like from the film, as the best teacher in the school, he seriously doubted his resolve in continuing to teach. Now it being said that he needed to learn to be a quality teacher, he would have most likely been able to reach his stride a lot sooner if he already had a willing and cooperative class.  The students in his class would have been much less of a nuisance if they were accustomed to a proper sleep routine which would include a later start time.

Many articles are written about teaching methods to open the minds of their students and to help those students unleash their own creativity.  Most of these writings are absolutely correct and contain within them, some of the most important methods to help students become successful. When reading authors like bell hooks, Mike Rose, and John Gatto or watching YouTube videos of Ken Robinson, I agree with their views on the current state of teaching in schools and I’m inspired by some of the proposals for changes to the school system to encourage critical thought. In John Gatto’s article “Against School” on wesjones.com, he writes “Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time in a teachers’ lounge can vouch for the low energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to be found there. When asked why they feel bored, the teachers tend to blame the kids, as you might expect. Who wouldn’t get bored teaching students who are rude and interested only in grades?”  Both the boredom the teachers feel and the rudeness the teachers see in their students that Gatto points out in the quote above, could be fixed mostly just by adjusting the start time of their day. In an article on the Washington Post website about education resolutions for the New Year, Mike Rose writes “1) To have more young people get an engaging and challenging education.” That was his number one resolution. It would be easier to give well-rested students a more engaging and challenging education than to a group of half-awake brain-dead troublemakers. I imagine it would be hard to teach math to a sleeping infant which is basically what it amounts to when trying to teach millions of under-slept children across the United States.

A quick search on Google for “effects of sleep deprivation” pulls up many negative articles related to mental and physical health issues. Camille Peri writes in a WebMd.com article “First, it impairs attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem solving. This makes it more difficult to learn efficiently. Second, during the night, various sleep cycles play a role in ‘consolidating’ memories in the mind. If you don’t get enough sleep, you won’t be able to remember what you learned and experienced during the day.” The article goes on to explain serious health problems that can arise from a lack of sleep over time. These health risks include heart disease, heart failure, stroke, high blood pressure and so on. It did not say the age group of the study but I would have to assume that this study was based on adults. If that is true, and it is dangerous for adults to have a lack of sleep, how dangerous is it to children who require more sleep to have less for 10 – 13 years before officially becoming adults? Andrew Ward, an expert on the brain, was quoted on the Stone Hearth News website as saying “Sleepiness disrupts the coordinated activity of an important network of brain regions; the impaired function of this network is also implicated in Alzheimer’s disease.” The brain is the most valuable organ that human beings have. Without it, we never would have discovered fire, put a man on the moon, or saved millions lives with innovations in medical technology. Why would we want to risk the health of children’s brains and their bodies by depriving them of the simplest form of preventive health care…adequate sleep?

The end result of switching to a 10 a.m. start time for schools grades K-12 would be dramatically increased productivity amongst students as well as teachers. The overall health of the U.S. population will be improved in future generations and we will usher in a new wave of discoveries by mankind using fully rested and functional brains. Teachers and parents will be less stressed out as they will be dealing with less hyperactive kids who are more eager to accomplish goals and to learn. The research has been done. The answer is obvious. All that’s left is for action to take place with a very simple change that could alter the lives of millions for the better and create a society of over achievers.

Works Cited

Shulman, Matthew. “Kids and Sleep: Why They Need More.” U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report LP. Web. 6 Sep. 2007

Chalk. Dir. Mike Akel. Perf.  Troy Schremmer, Janelle Schremmer, Shannon Haragan. Virgil Films, 2006. Film.   

Gatto, John. “Against School.” Harper's Magazine. Harper's Magazine Foundation. Wesjones.com. Web. Sep. 2003

Rose, Mike. “Mike Rose’s Resolution on Education.” The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. Web. 1 May. 2011

Peri, Camille. “Coping With Excessive Sleepiness.” WebMD. WebMD, LLC. Web. 14 Sep. 2012

Ward, Andrew. “How sleep deprivation impacts dementia, different types of memory, and learning.” Stone Hearth News. Web. 16 Oct. 2012

Dead Poets Society Real Time Notes 10/19

John Keating- Robin Williams

Robert Sean Leonard –Neil Perry

Ethan Hawke – Todd Anderson

Good Teaching: Robin Williams enters the classroom whistling his first day teaching them. He then has

them follow him out of the classroom and asks the class if they know where ”Oh captain my captain”

and lets them know it’s from a poem. He then explains his history as a student at the school and makes

some jokes. He makes fun of a few names in good fun.

“We are food for worms” a line he says to explain life.

He shows them students who since passed and makes a fake ghost sounds “Carpe Diem (Seize the day)”

“Make Your Lives Extraordinary”

The students walk out after the bell and call Mr. Keating’s class weird and spooky.

Mr. Keating asks the class to rip out a page in the book that is an introduction to poetry that gives a

formula for deciding if a poem is good. He does this while graphing on the chalk board. He motivates the

class by telling them they will learn to love poetry by how words and poems can change the world. He

is really upbeat and engages the class the entire time. He then has a huddle where he explains why we

read and write poetry (we are members of the human race) and why poetry is important to life as we

know it. He says that each person’s life is a verse and asks what their verse will be.

Robin Williams explains to students what the dead poets society is at the request of the students. He

gets down on his knees outside the school in the grass field and enthusiastically explains what it was and

then whistles and walks away.

Neil finds the dead poets book in his room with Mr. Keating’s name inscribed on the inside cover.

Mr. Keating called on Todd Anderson who didn’t want to speak so he instead called on Perry without

causing a scene. He then uses several impersonations to inspire the students to want to learn about

Shakespeare. Then he has students stand on his desk to see that sometimes you must look at things

from a different perspective.

Mr. Keating takes the students outside to kick balls and recite Shakespeare while listening to music. He

acts like a coach as he encourages them to be excited.

Mr. Keating lets Student Hopkins get away with joke as he lets him know that he should never be

ordinary.

Mr, Keating has Todd Anderson stand in front of the class and YAWP and answer questions to get him

over his fear of speaking in front of class, and to let him know that he has the ability to be a poet/writer.

Mr. Keating gets the class motivated with sports as classical music plays in the background.

Mr. Keating explains conformity outside with a walking exercise. “ Two Roads…”“ I took the one less

travelled” quote.

Bad Teaching:

Neil’s dad comes into the dorm room and tells him in front of his friends that he should drop

extracurricular activities in favor of academic success. He then asked if they could be excused with Neil

and then exits to the hall and tells him not to defy him and how much it means to his mother that he

attends medical school.

First few teacher scenes seem that they are all very rigid and strict. They seem to be obsessed with

discipline and order.

Library scene: The teacher smoking asks the students to stop chattering and sit down in the library as he

smokes off his pipe. Smoking pipe teacher guy asks the students to shut up.

Mr. Keating later calls out Todd for being shy ion front of class.

First Paper Brainstorming (10/7)

Brainstorming:

Two possible ideas:

1. The effects the death of my father caused on the family.

The situations that occurred as a result of the death.

Relationships that changed.

How each of us as a family dealt with the situation.

Variables such as financial and emotional problems

I will focus on the transformation from the pre-death relationships and the changing

relationship from immediately after till now.

I will focus on the relationships that were brought closer do to similar circumstances with

friends and people I met who I later became friends with.

My greatest delight will be telling the current situation of my family and our close relationship.

The strongest being the relationship between my brother and me.

How my mother is the rock in the family.

2. The way I learned to play music and the inspiration that lead me in that direction.

I will include the family music history starting from my grandpa and how my mom and her 7

siblings all get involved in music in some way.

The outside sources such as friends and distant relatives such as Chris and my uncle in law Bill

Ellis who played music in Vietnam.

I will focus on the importance of music in my life, not just playing but listening and how music is

such an important aspect of the majority of the population’s lives. I will discuss the idea of how I

couldn’t imagine a world without music. I will talk about my grandpa being 90 years old and still

singing karaoke and dancing like he was much younger.

My greatest delight will be talking about my family, music, and how music brings my family

closer each year.

I will talk about the music bond I share with friends who I grew up with and still have a strong

spiritual, close relationship, and music bond.

The importance of creating a connection with another artist.

Ken Robinson notes 10/17

Notes 10/17: Ken Robinson How Schools kill creativity

3 themes from lecture

1. Evidence of human creativity

2. No Idea what’s going to happen

3. Extraordinary capacities of children

Creativity is as important is literacy. Treat them equally.

If you’re not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original.

Picasso “All children are born artists”

We get educated out of creativity.

We start to educate from the waist up then to the head

Purpose of education is to come with University Professors

Intelligence is dynamic; interactive

Creativity comes from the interaction of different ways of doing things

Blog post with Cami, Lucas, Patty and Dan "Is Mr. Escalante a Good Teacher (Group Post 10/24)

There were two scenes from the movie "Stand and Deliver" that we focused on that we felt showed that Mr. Escalante was a good teacher:

The first was one was when Jaime Escalante was taunting Tito(?) about his use of his fingers.  He called him 'Finger Man"
          Jamie approaches Tito and holds up his hands and proceeds to show him how he uses his fingers to multiply.
  "Are you the Finger Man? I'm the finger man too. You know what I can do? I know how to multiply by nine.  9 X 3 - 1,2,3.  What do what you got?  27.  6 x 9 - 1,2,3,4,5,6.  What do you got? 54
Yeah.  You want a hard one? 8 X 9.  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. What do you got?  72"
Although in most places we would not consider this to be an instance of good teaching, in the environment of East Los  Angeles it was a way for Mr. Escalante to make more of an impact with Tito.  Mr.. Escalante knew he had to approach each kid differently. He also took the opportunity to show Tito that he was not easily intimidated.

The second scene we selected was the restaurant scene where Mr. Escalante has just finished dinner with his wife and the owner of the restaurant asks him if he enjoyed his taquitos.
  Mr. Escalante says "Muy benento.  except for one thing." He shows the receipt to the owner who is Anna's(Anita) dad.  Someone doesn't know how to add"
Dad looks at the receipt and calls Anna over and talks to her in Spanish.
Mr.. Escalante says " She should be going back to school."
Anna introduces her father to Mr. Escalante as her math teacher and Mr. Escalante invites the dad to have a seat.  He does and asks Anna to bring a couple of beers.  When she leaves Mr. Escalante tells the dad he should get another  waitress.  Dad laughs.
Mr.. Escalante says " Anna can be the first in your  family to graduate high school, go to college. "
Dad "Thank you for your concern, her mother works here, her sisters, her brothers.  Its a family business.  She is needed."  Mr. Escalante responds that's she can help the family more  by getting an  education.
The conversation continues and the dad is starting to get defensive.  Mr. Escalante tells him that his daughter has talked about going to  medical school and that she will waste her life if she doesn't go back to school.  "She is top kid!" says Mr. Escalante.  "She could go to college and come back and teach you how to  run the place."
From there it is down hill and as Mr. Escalante gets up to leave he puts his money on the table but the dad gives it back to him saying that he does not need his money or his business.
This was a good example of the passion that Mr. Escalante has for his students.  He sees the potential and drive in Anna and wants her to succeed.
As far as any instances of bad teaching, we really did not have any examples.   The only thing that might be questionable was the references to  sex and gigolos but then one needs to remember where the school is and the rough environment that the students live every day.  Again Mr. Escalante is interacting with the students on their level.

Lorde's Essay (10/17)

Audre Lorde’s early education sounded horrible. A bad school for the visually challenged followed by what sounded like a very strict Catholic School. Lorde wrote about an experience in catholic school where after telling the truth about a project she had done on her own, said that her teacher did not believe her after questioning her and said “"Our guardian angels weep when we don't tell the truth, Audre. I want a note from your mother tomorrow telling me that you are sorry for lying to the baby Jesus." Her teachers at the catholic school were instructed to spank Audre if she misbehaved and they seemed more than happy to abide by her parents’ wishes. Lorde said “A week after I started school she sent a note home to my mother asking her not to dress me in so many layers of clothing because then I couldn't feel the strap on my behind when I was punished.

   Another example of a bad teacher experience she wrote about was her teacher in the school for the visually impaired. She wrote the teacher said to her, after not understanding the assignment she was trying to do, "Imagine that, a big girl like you. Such a shame, I'll have to tell your mother that you won't even try. And such a big girl like you!” The teacher basically calls her stupid and fat in front of the whole class and belittles her accusing her of not trying to do the exercise. Lorde gives the impression that the teachers she encountered at a young age were impeding her ability to learn and punishing her for no reason except their inability to teach. 

Ranking of 5 Authors

1. Large – I believe is number 1 because of all the readings, I believe a strong character is the best offense in building successful people. I have met and listened to many successful people throughout my life and the first thing I notice most of the time is the strength of their character.

2. hooks – There are too many teachers who only teach their students to learn from a stringent learning plan that  only gives one point of view. I almost rated this number 1 because how important I think it is for teachers to help encourage critical thinking especially when instructing young, impressionable minds. Also, the second part of her writing where she explains the importance of group participation in the learning process is a part of this ranking as well.

3. Gilyard- I believe as humans we are programmed to be involved in the humanities in some fashion or another. Music being the number 1 part of this but also poetry, acting, dancing, and many others play huge roles  in learning creativity.  Learning humanities also open up different parts of our brains and can help with learning in other areas .

4. Boyce- I don’t know how realistic this is as a long term solution. It is good advice but to me it kind seems a little out there as far as it being an attainable goal. I see this more of a parental role and as a choice they can make if they see fit to do so.

5. Aronson – I like that there were some very impressive results according to the statistics in the writing. I do however believe we’ll never get past race as an issue if we don’t treat each other equally. There are many opinions on this, and it is a very touchy issue. I just wish schools were schools, private or public and there was no reason that race had to be involved in any way and we just stop making it an issue. I would have rated this higher if it didn't have to do with race, but rather poverty or for troubled youth. 

Large, Boyce, Gilyard, Aronson, and hooks Ideas

Large is writing about the author Paul Tough, who in his book emphasizes the importance of building character in children from a young age. His suggestion is that IQ tests and testing scores are not a way to predict success later in life, and rather the character of the children is a better determining factor. He brings up a study about rats which shows that when they are young and nurtured by their mothers, they are able to navigate “stressful” situations much more effectively.

Boyce writes about Mark Greenberg, and his views of using mindfulness exercises as a way to help educators and parents to teach children how to not react to emotion, and to step back from it in order to gain a better perspective on the current situation. In the article the turtle technique is recommended to teach to children to help them step back and look at things from a different view.

Gilyard talks about a visit to a public elementary school to discuss, in front of young students, the history of his life and his work with the humanities. After his visit he found out that the school was cutting back on the humanities credits to focus on other areas due to funding cuts. He argues that humanities should be included on par with other fields in public education. Gilyard quotes W.E.B. Du Bois several times in his writing to illustrate the importance of the humanities

Aronson writes about a controversial school program called the Mexican American Studies program that helped Hispanic students learn more about their heritage and writers in their culture. Her point of view is that this program encouraged Hispanics to do better in school and she demonstrates her argument with graduation statistics locally within the program compared to national statistics. She includes quotes from teachers and others who participated in the program to support her argument.

bell hooks reading argues that critical thinking is essential to humans. She mentions that from a young age we are obsessed with gaining knowledge by any means necessary. Hooks then goes on to argue that we are taught not to be critical thinkers and instead filled with information to interpret and “regurgitate” at a later time.  Her main point in the writing is that teachers must encourage free thinking in order to produce successful student minds. The second part of her reading is about the importance of the students’ participation and working hand-in-hand with each other. Her argument is that they should be  getting to know the other students as well as the teacher and to be willing to accept some failure in order to be more successful critical thinkers. 

Group Discussion 11/21 on Scenes from Chalk-Rose,Black,Friere and Gatto

Gatto says in his article “Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time in a teachers' lounge can vouch for the low energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to be found there.” This reminds us of the scene in Chalk where Mr. Lowrey is passed out in one of the back offices out of tiredness and probably boredom due to his lack of patience with what he perceived to be disrespectful students. Mr. Lowrey was later discouraged from teaching and thought about quitting at the end of the movie because of the environment in the school, having learned everything on his own, and thinking it was too stressful.

Friere said in his writing  “His task is to "fill" the students with the contents of his narration -- contents which are detached from reality, disconnected from the totality that engendered them and could give them significance.” In the first few minutes of chalk, Mr. Lowrey “deposits” mass amounts of data into his students “depositees” on the first day. He says that all students MUST have paper, he then shows a list on the chalk board with words and sentences telling the students they must be able to recite the meanings precisely.

Lewis Black shows the video of students trying to get into charter schools by luck of the draw lottery systems  in order to have a chance at a good future. This reminds us of the scene in chalk where Mr. Stroope talks to 2 of his students, one about not using big words that confuse the rest of the class, and the other about her knowing more than him about history and basically encourages them to be average.

Mike Rose says in his article “To assure that teacher professional development gets increased and thoughtful support.” In chalk, there are a couple scenes that remind us of this statement. One is where Mr. Lowrey is frustrated by his out of control class and goes to the library to check out a book on class management. Another is at the end of the movie where Mr. Lowrey talks about having learned to teach without any guidance. Not all teachers will develop good habits on their own and may develop bad habits or want to give up as Mr. Lowrey implied towards the end of the movie. 

The Ed Narrative I Like Most Is “How I Learned to Live Google Free”. (10/8)

        Of the education narrative texts we read in Unit 1, I most liked “How I Learned to Live Google Free” by Joshua J. Romero. Even though I more directly related to “How I Learned to Program Computers” since I am currently finishing up my degree in IT at Olympic College, I just think about how hard it would be to live without Google. I have an Android phone, I use Gmail for my email accounts, I use Google Maps for directions almost every day and for recommendations on almost every place I go, I am obsessed with using the plethora of Apps that you can use with Chrome, I am currently looking into getting Chromecast, for school I am using Blogger which is owned by Google, and I use many other Google services as well. In Romero’s article, he was comparing the features of Gmail with other email providers and most of the ones he found were pay services. He didn’t want to pay for email with the same features he could get from Gmail and I can relate to that! He also talks about the integration of Google services with each other and the ability to have one account that does so many things. I would find it annoying to have to switch back and forth between so many different apps and services that I had to login and out of. It would be a pain and add extra time to daily activities I had become accustomed to just moving between different Google products with no need to re-login. Mostly, I like his article because I would like to attempt the challenge one day. I say “one day” because I rely way too much on Google now to be able to attempt it at this point. Even when I do it will be for a week tops. I love Google products although the company scares me. 

How Malcom X’s, Mike Rose and the 3 bloggers posts differ.(10/8)

Malcom X and Mike Rose both come from very different backgrounds and their texts both were detailing learning experiences. They were putting forth a vision to their readers of the environment they were in at the time of the learning experience they experienced. Mike Rose’s was from a school system perspective and Malcom X was from his self-teaching at a prison. The bloggers all were trying to show how they learned to do something outside of the education system and were not trying to show the importance of education as a whole but rather as to how they learned to do something specific. It was a less formal approach but still they targeted their readers to put forth their experiences. Malcom X and Mike Rose seemed to transition more slowly into different topics whereas the bloggers transitioned a little more abruptly. They sectioned off their articles into subsections that described different parts of their overall point of their articles. The readings from Malcom X and Mike Rose pushed more of an inspirational message or overcoming adversity. The bloggers messages were all different, but they gave value with their articles to people who might be interested in their points of view on their subjects. 

Whatever I like post from 9/26

This blog is coming in late as I am currently writing my late blog posts I missed. Since I am in the process of writing late blog posts, I am going to write about that. It’s whatever I like… so, yeah. I only missed a few blogs from unit 1. Unit 2 is where I need to make up the most blogs. I am current on unit 3. Bored yet? Keep reading, I will throw in quotes I made up as I am writing or maybe something I said or did from before this class. You’re welcome. “I don’t know why Mario can fly on super Mario Brothers 3 with a raccoon tail.” I actually took that quote from my brain as something I texted someone once when I was bored. But think about it….Why would you be able to fly by acquiring a raccoon’s tail? Raccoons are not well known for their flying abilities and most the raccoons I know are overweight. They live down by the blackberry bushes behind my apartment and steal my trash as I throw it in the dumpster. But they don’t fly away with my trash! They instead make their way down to a currently unknown location and I assume they eat it. Maybe trash gives them flying abilities? I don’t know. Anyways, I have quite a bit of reading to do to refresh my memory on certain writings so I can effectively turn in my late blogs. That reminds me of a time that a possum died at my work from eating Del Taco Inferno sauce. He was a noble Possum. I guess I like writing about rodents or mammals or whatever the hell raccoons and possums are. Anyways, time to get back to work. Enjoy knowing that I am writing more blogs as we speak.  

Lewis Black VS. Mike Rose

“NBC, 1 week for education, 51 weeks for incarceration” Lewis Black states after showing a clip of NBC news followed by a clip of NBC’s program Lockup. It seems his view of the media’s coverage of and interest in the current education system is joke. Mike Rose in his article said “To have the media, middle-brow and high-brow, quit giving such a free pass to the claims and initiatives of the Department of Education and school reformers.” To me both Black and Rose agree on the media’s coverage of the education system needing an upgrade of time and substance. Mike Rose’s article says “To stop looking for the structural or technological magic bullet – whether it’s charter schools or value-added analysis – that will improve education”. Lewis Black, in the video, shows a charter school that uses a lottery system to choose its students where many are left out of a possibly good future. This seems to be a negative view of charter schools from each Black and Rose. "I'm pretty sure schools shouldn't be the nicest building you'll ever be inside. I went to school in an empty carton of Pall Malls.” Lewis Black said this after showing a clip from NBC where they show a school that cost $578 million dollars. I didn't see anything in Rose’s article about the cost that is wasted in building lavish schools at the detriment of possible school funds that could be used for students. That doesn't necessarily mean Rose didn't feel the same way, it just wasn't mentioned in the article that I could see.  I didn't see Lewis Black dive into the test score standard as did Mike Rose when he said “To stop making the standardized test score the gold-standard of student achievement and teacher effectiveness.” I think Lewis Black’s picture was more of an overall complaint of the education system problems and Mike Rose was offering suggestions on how to fix many of the current education systems failures. 

My View of High School

High School is essential although I find myself in many ways agreeing with Gatto’s point of view on the education system as a whole. High school introduces teens to social life and in most cases, helps them mature as productive members of society. It teaches fundamentals that will be needed throughout life in today’s society. Some of the core subjects like English and Math are essential tools for everyone. However, I do find many issues with High School and the education system as whole. I believe there is a fine line between structure and imprisoning people. The fact that a student who ditches class to much can be sent to juvenile hall or that their parents can be sent to jail, to me, is out of control. I think the school system has a responsibility to encourage and inspire students to want to go to school. I believe parents should have more of a role with their children’s education and that High School needs to be changed to better fit the student’s academic needs as well as their personal circumstances. Some students may be able to excel off campus and show up once a week to turn in their school work. Others may need more help and can get more personal attention by showing up to class while others are at home who don’t need it.  I believe education plans should be tailored to individuals and not to masses. I think “no child left behind” and “common core education” initiatives turn our youth into a country full of underachievers who never rise to their full potential. 

Chalk Scenes Related to Friere and Gatto's points of view.

The scene at the beginning where Mr. Lowrey is telling the students to give descriptions of words and sentences that are written on the chalk board was a good comparison to Freire’s “Banking method” where he says that the teacher is the depositor and the student is the depositee. The scene shows the strict relationship that goes into that style of teaching. The scene where the students phone rings 3 times in class and Mr. Lowrey screams at him and kicks him out of the classroom while other students laugh compares to Gatto’s view that the students and teachers get bored with the communist style teaching system(as Gatto would call it) that has become the public school system. Another scene which shows this same boredom is the scene where Ms. Webb is breaking up a fight by screaming outside the school and yells at the on looking students for watching. This can show that fights are an effect of the boredom the kids feel at the school. The on lookers were also getting excitement they were otherwise most likely lacking. Gatto seems to be anti-one-size-fits-all in his teaching preferences and that can relate to the scene in Chalk where Mr. Stroope complains to a student about his use of big words confusing other students (as well as himself) as the other students are not on his level academically. This, to me, shows holding a student back from using his potential but also keeps the other students from the possibility of learning something new. To me, Friere’s view of the banking method of teaching can be demonstrated in the scene of Chalk where Ms. Webb is talking to the camera and she says that she tells students that they are good at something that they are not so they will think they are and hopefully rise to the challenge. An alternate way to do that may have been to try something else they are good at, and teach them using what they are good at to get better at what they aren’t. Close to the end of the movie where Mr. Lowrey, arguably having become the best teacher at the school because of trial and error, decides he may not come back, to me relates to Gatto’s story of being ostracized from the system for his outside-the-box teaching methods. 

Chalk Real-Time Notes

Chalk Notes:

50 % of teachers quit within the first 3 months of teaching beginning quote.

First day:

Mr. Stroope

Coach Webb

Mrs Reddell assistant principal

In my class you will always need paper

Mr. Stroope takes summer camp pictures away jokes about throwing them away.

Read with me, history is society …etc the teacher says in a strict manner

Mr. Stroop asks students about what they did over the previous summer and involves himself with their personal stories.

Mr. Lowrey explains his boring past about computer programming and his lack of experience with teaching (only an hour and a half)

Mr. Stroope wants to win teacher of the year

Coach Webb depends on other people to help her with her job.

Coach Webbs best friend is the assistant principal.

Mr. Stroope goals are against sarcasm cleanliness organization lesson plans. Lesson Plans are due before the next week for students.

Mrs. Reddell seems like a bitch and involves herself unnecessarily involved in random personal events.

MR. Stroop is really awkward with students.

Mr Lowrey is very stringent, he goes after Manika and another student and starts hammering on about the constitution in a random way. He then complains about respect in a non-professional way.

Principal talks consistently about the marine core in random scenarios with Mrs Reddell.

Mrs. Webb goes after Ms Brat for student being late and complains about the rules and her letting students in late. She pesters Mrs Brat about exercising implying that she is fat.

Mr. Lowrey doesn’t know how to handle chalk missing and acts immature in front of students.  

He then asks the students to teach the class sarcastically.

Ms Webb talks trash about overweight students.

She then talks about making kids think they are good at something they are not in order to get them to comply to her standards.

Mr. Lowrey searches for books on classroom management.

Mr. Stroope complains to a student about using too big of words as it can confuse others as well as himself and another student about making sounds and facial expressions about different scenarios that seem sarcastic.

Mr. Lowrey seems to get better by adding humor to the classroom.

The kids are outside skaing and…

Mr Stroope tries to put himself in front of other teachers by asking teachers about what they do with certain things. He tries to act so cool.

He lectures about being role models.

Two weeks till Christmas:

Mr. Stroope calls Will’s parents about his grade and no one was on the line.

MR Lowrey passes out at desk: has random dream.

Ms Reddell asks Mr. Lowrey if he is single or not.

He is divorced.

Mr. Stroope goes shooting and compares it to teaching.

Mr Lowrey goes after a student for having his phone ringing and he demands the phone and then kicks the student out. He then yells at him. He acts like a stubborn child and tells him he is horrible then tells another student he can join the student he kicked out.

Mr Lowrey smokes and looks like he is going through a depression.

Six weeks until summer:

Mr Stroope talks to the class about the teacher of the year that he got nominated. He then says he wants to beat the other teacher nominated like a step child.

Mr Lowrey talks about a student who does not respect him even though he is a great student.

He talks to the mother about her son not respecting him as a teacher.

The mom shows the teacher how to get what he wants from her son.

The assistant principal is trying to deal with other teachers she used to be peers with.

Mr. Stroope sets up a student wearing an I’m Shady shirt to ask what she thinks her odds of beating him in the teacher of the year award.

Teacher of the year award debate:

Mr. Stroope talks to the students about how he didn’t win teacher of the year. He then talks about the bright side and about how Mrs Townsend was tough competition he then yells about how he was in last place because he was 2^nd place. It was really unprofessional and then says a grandma beat him

Mr. Lowrey talks to his students about the spelling hornet. Spelling of slang words.

The Hornet actually was a promising point of the movie. The teachers were gauged by the students on spelling slang words.

Final round:

Mr. Lowrey wins the hornet spelling bee and I think gains more respect from his students.

Copy machine still broken with 13 days left till summer.

Mr. Lowrey lets students do what they want for a bit. He then smiles at the woman black student.

The students ask Mr. Lowrey to rap.

The students make a beat so that he can attempt to rap. Halla at your hoatees holla your boys etc.

Mr Lowrey talks about his students who taught him to spell at the hornet.

He said he studied for a few weeks,

He then says he will for the next year

Mr Lowrey considers not coming back the following year. He seems to talk himself out of it. Unsure.

Mr Lowrey starts out as the biggest ass of a teacher and then becomes the best only to might not come back. 

Pg. 32 - 37 Relation to Paper # 3

Page 32-37 sections all pertain to paper #3. The  paper is about providing an argument to a reader for your reasoning behind a change in the k-12 curriculum. Classification can be used to keep a paper organized so that related items are kept in a specific order when writing. Compare and contrast can be used to show the similarities and differences to one argument or another. Although compare and contrast was the focus of the last paper, I’m sure the skillset will be very useful when writing the argument paper.  Cause and effect can demonstrate desired or undesired effects of whatever it is your argument is based on. You can use cause and effect back up your argument showing possible outcomes from a given action or event. An argument is obviously particularly important to this paper as the point of the paper is to establish an argument by proving your point using “facts, examples, statistics, and expert testimony as support.” As the book states on page 36. Dialectical Persuasion seems like a particularly valuable asset to an argument paper as long as you don’t take it too far. When writing the paper you can use dialectical persuasion to try to first eliminate the opposing view by exposing it before countering it with your argument. Obviously you would want to pose the opposite point of view carefully so it does not detract from your main argument and undermine the paper. If you can do it while proving your point and detracting from the other, it can be very effective in your argument paper. 

John Gatto and Paolo Friere Text Comparison

John Gatto and Paolo Friere seem to have some very similar views regarding education. Judging by what they wrote, I feel that they both see problems with teaching being standardized and broadcast to a population of clones. What Friere calls the “banking” concept of teaching and what Gatto refers to with the public school system in the U.S., seem almost identical. Friere stated in the writing “Education thus becomes an act depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor.” To me that goes hand in hand with Gatto’s belief that the structured system leads to teachers being bored and hence, the students being bored. This seems to be a cycle in which a student goes to school for years with a boring structured system, then later becomes a teacher only to teach the same boring style to new students and so on. Although I see a closeness with their points of view as far as the standardized teaching method, there is also a big difference in the writings. Gatto goes on to explain that many of our founding fathers had very little to no formal education and still accomplished great things. What I gathered from his writing was that he felt the ability to think freely from a very young age resulted in productivity later in life. Hence, Instead of being bored, free thinkers were thinking up ways to be more productive. Gatto felt that the public school system was a more communist type of system and that we could do better. He felt we were breeding workers instead of allowing creativity. Friere didn’t seem to have a negative view of the public school system, but rather a negative view on the teaching style he calls “the banking concept”. At least that’s what I gathered from the section we read from chapter two of his book. 

My High School Experience as it Relates to Gatto's Claims.

I really enjoyed reading Gatto’s article and I agreed on his position about the way our school system works in the U.S. My high school experience was very much like Gatto’s view of the education system. Most of my teachers throughout the 4 years I was attending high school seemed to work on a conveyor belt type system where their teaching entailed a specific program that never changed and was generalized to treat every student the same as opposed to educating on an individual basis. There was a specific order, mandatory deadline, and mass produced type system that was strictly adhered to by most teachers at my high school. This was not true for all my teachers. I had many teachers throughout the years who deviated from the standardized system and took an interest in individualized teaching. The majority, however, seemed intent on a certain structure they had been using for probably the entirety of their careers. I remember the hardest thing for me to get used to in middle school and high school was the fact I had to be up at 5:30 am every day to make it to class by 7:05 am or I would have truant officers showing up to harass my mom. I was home-schooled till 7^th grade and my brain didn't function very well at that early hour like it did around 10 am when I was home schooled. I never fully got used to the early mornings and later when I had homework I was usually pretty fatigued while doing my work. I can definitely relate to Gatto’s view in his writings and my high school experience included many of the gripes he had as a teacher and, from his teacher’s perspective, as a student. 

Formal Paper #2 (Final Draft)

                                                 

       Comparison of Inspirational Teachers

 C.S. Lewis once wrote, “The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts.” This quote probably has different meanings to different people, but my interpretation is that a teacher’s job is to find any means necessary to open the minds of their students and allow their own creativity to flourish. Linda Hamer and Robert Collier were two teachers who motivated and inspired their students’ quest for knowledge.

Mr. Collier was an astronomy teacher at Douglas High School and Ms. Hamer taught at Carson Valley Middle School. Both schools are located in the small town of Minden, Nevada. Nestled in the sagebrush-laden valley below the snowcapped Sierras, Minden is only 20 minutes by car from beautiful Lake Tahoe. CVMS occupies the old high school building, replaced years earlier by DHS. The school grounds of DHS have an uninterrupted view of the Sierras and, in the winter as it begins to get dark, you can see lights from the snow groomers as they prepare the runs at Heavenly Ski Resort for the next morning rush of powder hounds.

In 1993, seventh-grade classrooms at CVMS were located mostly in the B building toward the back of the school grounds, next to the basketball courts. That year Ms. Hamer taught in room 115 of the B building, across from the science lab. She was known to take her students outside to energize their bodies and minds by having the kids play sports that were modified to include English lessons. The ambiance in her classroom was very inviting, but for 12-year-old kids, being outside was what they drooled over like hungry dogs when they hear the dog food bag shake.  “Tag, you’re in!” a student would exclaim, which usually meant it was your turn to give an answer to a question followed by the absolute fulfillment of kicking a soccer ball as hard as you could toward a large weathered net.  These outdoor English lessons worked in a way that the students’ brains were able to suck in information like a sponge whether they were kicking soccer balls or defending the flag of their team in an unrelated but equally entertaining Ms. Hamer-sponsored activity.

Ms. Hamer was very soft-spoken, although her ability to motivate had her students hanging on every word that she so calmly voiced. She was a relatively small person physically; maybe 5-foot even, and weighed enough that a 12-year-old boy could hoist her above his shoulders. Her size was misleading, however, as the content of her message and her ability to relate gained the respect of even the most dispassionate and cold-blooded mischief-makers.  Both in and out of class, her students learned about Ms. Hamer’s personal life as she learned about and participated in theirs. Her husband was a deputy sheriff for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, and she a part-time Juvenile Probation Officer after her long day of teaching. Those little details about her life were well known by her students and most would probably be hard-pressed to remember things like that about other teachers, especially after some years had passed. With that personal relationship established, many of Ms. Hamer’s students felt the ability to confide in her their private issues as well as academic issues they had both in her class and in the other classes they were taking that year. Sometimes, after the bell had rung signaling the end of the day, she would stay after and help students with their homework for all their classes, not just her own. Her ability to relate to her students on that level got many through that year and left them looking forward to the next. 

Sophomore year was the first at Douglas High in 1998 as Carson Valley Middle School kidnapped the freshmen due to overcrowding at the high school. The lack of room at the high school for the freshmen stemmed from Southern Californians sneaking over the Nevada border with their offspring and building houses to hide out in...permanently. During the summer, many students signed up for science classes like astronomy based on the assumption the classes would be easy and they could knock out a science elective without a lot of work. What many had not imagined at the time was how easy it could be to get interested in astronomy when given the right teacher.

Mr. Collier was a tall, lanky white man who wore serial-killer style glasses so thick he could probably see the ice caps on Mars without a telescope. He had an “I live in my mom’s basement” tone in his voice and many students in his class immediately looked forward to walking all over this guy throughout the year. However, his nerdy stature and five-pound bifocals were merely a clever disguise of what was a brilliant and dedicated teacher. Over the first few months of the fall semester, Mr. Collier had started converting his image in his students’ eyes from someone most wouldn’t get into a van with, to someone they would stay after class alone with just to listen to him speak. Not many educators truly love the subjects they’ve chosen to teach as much as this teacher loved his. Astronomers had just begun to discover extra-solar planets at the time, and Mr. Collier spent a lot of the semester that year speaking about the possibilities of these new-found discoveries instead of teaching from the assigned book. His enthusiasm when he spoke about astronomy was infectious.

Students found themselves obsessed with the universe and many took part in mini-field trips on Friday nights to the new Jack C. Davis observatory that was located on top of a hill overlooking Western Nevada College in Carson City. It was due to his suggestion and encouragement that students became involved in these weekend trips and it also resulted in more extra=credit possibilities than any one person would need. During the year, the planet Mars was at its perihelion, which is the closest distance a planet gets to the Sun. With parental permission, Mr. Collier took students to the observatory at midnight on a Friday to observe Mars through a 16” lens telescope. As students lined up to see what could possibly be the most amazing sight they have ever witnessed, he played the theme song to 2001: A Space Odyssey and recited facts about Mars as students took turns examining the planet through the looking glass of the telescope. What really had the class breathless was seeing the polar ice caps on Mars and being able to make out astonishing detail in real time. It had a much more profound effect than watching a documentary on Mars or reading about a new discovery online. Mr. Collier engaged his students with practical application as well as showing them his love for the science with every word he spoke. Most of his students relished going to class, and if they wanted to ditch school or call in sick, they made sure it wasn’t on Mr. Collier’s astronomy day. 

William A. Ward once said, "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." Education can be much more valuable and palatable with teachers like Ms. Hamer and Mr. Collier. They both inspired people to pursue education and they both gave a feeling of fulfillment to those learning their respective subject matters.  Ms. Hamer seemed to be interested in teaching her students the importance of an overall education and outside-the-box thinking when learning throughout life. She was very interested with her student’s personal lives and strived to relate with them personally. Mr. Collier was just as great a teacher, but he earned his place in the list of greats because of his love for a single subject. He loved his chosen subject so much that he passed that love on to his students. He might not have talked to his students about anything outside of astronomy, but every conversation he had on the subject was very meaningful to most and put students on a path for a life-time love of the subject. Ms. Hamer was a great teacher because of her love of people whereas Mr. Collier was a great teacher because of his passion for the specific subject he taught.

Works Cited

Lewis, C.S. “The Abolition of Man.” Apilgriminnarnia.com. Oxford University Press, 1943. Web. 22 May 2012

Ward, William A. “Teacher Appreciation Quotes: Famous Sayings for Teachers and About Teaching.” huffingtonpost.com. Web. 3 May 2010

Formal Paper #2 Rough Draft

Douglas High School and Carson Valley Middle School, are both located in the small town of Minden Nevada. Minden is nestled in the sagebrush laden valley below the snowcapped Sierra Mountains and is only 20 minutes by car from one of the world’s most beautiful lakes, Lake Tahoe. CVMS is the remnants of the old High School that had been replaced years earlier by DHS. The school grounds of DHS have an uninterrupted view of the Sierra’s and, in the winter as it begins to get dark, you can see lights from the snow groomers as they prepare the runs at Heavenly Ski Resort for the next morning rush of powder hounds. It was at these two schools that two of my favorite teachers in my life taught. Ms. Hamer and Mr. Collier were both teachers who motivated and inspired me in my quest for knowledge. Although both Ms. Hamer and Mr. Collier were great teachers and had the ability to garner my attention and focus to the subject matter they taught, they did so in different ways. 

My first year of public school was the 7^th grade as I had been homeschooled by my mom and grandma from kindergarten through 6^th grade. Although I had many teachers that year, the one who made the transition from homeschool to public school a lot less stressful was Ms. Hamer. She was known to take her students outside to energize their bodies and minds by having the kids play sports that were modified to include English lessons. The ambiance for her classroom was very inviting but for a 12 year old kid, being outside was what we drooled over like hungry dogs when they hear the dog food bag shake.  “Tag you’re in!” a student would exclaim, which usually meant it was your turn to give an answer to a question followed by the absolute fulfillment of kicking a soccer ball as hard as you could toward a large weathered net.  I don’t quite know how it worked, but my brain was able to suck in information like a sponge whether I was kicking soccer balls or defending the flag of my team in an unrelated but equally entertaining Mr. Hamer sponsored activity. Ms. Hamer was very soft spoken although her ability to motivate had her students hanging on every word that she so calmly voiced. She was a relatively small person physically; maybe 5 ft even and weighed enough that a 12 year old could hoist her above their shoulders. Her size was misleading however as the content of her message and her ability to relate gained the respect of even the most dispassionate and cold-blooded mischief makers.  Both in and out of class, we learned about Ms. Hamer’s personal life as she learned and participated in ours. Her husband was a Sherriff for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, and she a part-time Juvenile Probation Officer after her long day of teaching. I can still remember those little details about her life and I would be hard-pressed to remember things like that with any other teacher, especially in the amount of years that have passed. With that personal relationship in place, I felt the ability to confide in her my private issues as well as academic issues I had in her class as well as the other classes I was taking that year. She would stay after class sometimes and help me with my homework for all my other classes. Her ability to relate to me on that level got me through that year and left me looking forward to the next. 

It was my second year at Douglas High School, although I was a junior. My freshman year was spent at Carson Valley Middle School due to overcrowding from Southern Californians sneaking over the Nevada border and building houses to hide out in….permanently. During the summer between my sophomore and junior year, I signed up for Astronomy since it sounded like it would be an easy class to take to knock out my science elective without a lot of work. My first day in class, I noticed a tall lanky white man with serial killer glasses so thick he could probably see the ice caps on Mars without a telescope, writing “Mr. Collier” on the chalk board. He had an “I live in my mom’s basement” type of tone in his voice and I was looking forward to walking all over this guy throughout the year. His nerdy stature and 5lb bifocals were a clever disguise over what was a brilliant and dedicated teacher. Over the next few months, Mr. Collier had converted himself in my eyes from someone I wouldn’t get into a van with, to someone I would stay after class alone with just to listen to him speak. There hasn’t been a class since then that I’ve taken where the teacher truly loved his chosen subject to teach as much as Mr. Collier loved Astronomy. Extra Solar planets had just started being discovered at the time and he spent a lot of the semester speaking about the possibilities of these new found discoveries instead of teaching from the assigned book. His enthusiasm when he spoke about Astronomy was infectious. I found myself obsessed with the universe and even went on mini-field trips almost every Friday night to the new Jack C. Davis observatory that was located on top of a hill overlooking Western Nevada College in Carson City Nevada. It was under his suggestion that I became involved in these weekend trips and it also resulted in more extra credit than any one person would need. During the year, the planet Mars was at its perihelion which is the closest distance a planet gets to the Sun. With parental permission, Mr. Collier took us to the observatory at midnight on a Friday to observe Mars through a 16” lens telescope. As we lined up to see the what was probably the most amazing sight I had ever seen, he played the theme song to “2001: A Space Odyssey” and told us Mars facts as we took turns examining the planet through the looking glass of the telescope. What really took my breath away, was seeing the polar ice caps on Mars and being able to see astonishing detail in real time. It had a much more profound effect than watching a documentary on Mars or reading about a new discovery online. Mr. Collier engaged his students with practical application as well as showing us his love for the science with every word he spoke. I relished going to class and if I wanted to ditch school on any given day, I had to make sure it wasn’t on an A day since that was Astronomy day. 

My years in middle school and high school were much more valuable and palatable with teachers like Ms. Hamer and Mr. Collier. They both inspired me to pursue my education and they both gave me a feeling of fulfillment with learning their respective subject matters.  Ms. Hamer seemed to be interested in teaching her students the importance of an overall education and outside the box thinking when learning throughout life. She was very interested with our personal lives and strived to relate with us personally. Mr. Collier was just as great of a teacher, but he earned his place in my great list because his love for a single subject. He loved his subject so much that he passed that love to his students. I don’t ever remember talking to him about anything outside of Astronomy, but every one of those conversations were very meaningful to me and put me on a path for a life time love of the subject. I feel Ms. Hamer was a great teacher because of her love of people whereas I see that Mr. Collier was a great teacher because his passion for the specific subject he taught.