Authors Support

Gilyard: ...."was equally concerned with the best end to have in view."

hooks:  "Sadly, children's passion for thinking often ends when they encounter a world that seeks to educate them for conformity and obedience only."

Boyce: ...."but to promote positive qualities like empathy, citizenship, and strong friendships."

Hayes:    reward of gaming include "of being successful, connecting with others, and feeling curiosity, awe, and wonder."

Gilyard:  Humanities "are vital to the process of  the shaping critical and productive citizens that we need."

hooks:  "Critical thinking requires all participants in the classroom process to be engaged. "

brainstorming ideas

How teachers are treated
Teaching children to be optimistic, socially intelligent
Empathetic students, collaboration
critical thinkers, problem-solvers,  leaders, innovators
approach to teaching
academic standards for teachers
standardized tests should not be valued as the 'gold-standard' for achievement
stress of testing
building character
gratitude
engaging students

Rank

It was hard to rank them since they all had valid suggestions.

#1 Large-Qualities for successful individual-grit, curiosity, optimism-tough but positive-it not about failure, but how you handle it.
#2-Boyce-Mindfulness, empathy and good citizenship-make for a better world.
#3-Aronson- he advocated for voicing our opinions to effect real change that is measurable
#4-Gilyard- creative arts are very important, but STEM is being made the focus of the future.

Black and Rose

Both Rose and Black acknowledge that there is a problem with our education system.  Rose   advocated for young people to get an engaging and challenging education and to "stop making the standardized test scores the gold-standard of student achievement and teacher effectiveness".  Black advocated putting money into education and not get weighed down by titles.  Just make It "Folks education"

Omar.

Ideas for Change

Each of the authors support the ideas for change slightly with a different focus, but the end view looking over the horizon-is the same.  It is to educate children to be successful adults in society.  Jerry Large supports change by emphasizing the qualities that make for successful people.  They are grit, gratitude, optimism, curiosity, and social intelligence.  It is not about how high you score on tests.  Barry Boyce supports change in being mindful, having empathy and good citizenship.  Keith Gilyard saw change through creative arts and humanities.  bell hooks sees changes to education through critical thinking rather than conformity and obedience.  Interestingly, Sandy Hayes sees changed in education with Games.  Games can teach children about collaboration, problem solving, and accomplishing tasks through innovation, exploration and offers hope rather than failure.

Chalk advocating against education

Freire and Gatto both see the negatives from the current American education and curriculum.  Chalk reinforces this by portraying Mr. Stroope as a teacher not striving to better his students, but as a teacher driven by recognition (award).  Often Mr. Stroope is not as intelligent as his students.  Teachers should be qualified to teach.  When you have teachers who are not qualified to teach, the level of education will be lower.  Also, Mr. Lowrey is not motivated to enjoy what he does, teach.  They do not look to empower or lift their students to a place where they think outside the box, rather it is just the mundane routine they go through everyday, just to get through the year.  They don't encourage their students to be thinkers and leaders, just to follow the set curriculum and follow the rules.

Omar 

Chalk real time notes

The movie was released in 2006.  It is a mockumentary about teaching.  The main characters in the movie are Mr. Stroope, Mr. Lowrey and Coach Webb.  It is a movie from the perspective of the teachers.  It mentions that 50% of teachers quit during the first few years of teaching.  Mr. Stroope is noted as being sometimes less intelligent than his students although he wants to be Teacher of Year.  Mr. Lowrey is a history teacher who can't seem to find the joy or drive in teaching history.  Coach Webb is a woman gym teacher who tries to get her students to take her and her class seriously, as a class just like history or English.  It is a light movie with a serious subject underneath.  Teachers have an important role in children's education.  They need to enjoy what they do, be educated enough to teach, and have respect from the students in order to learn.

Omar 

WS pp. 32-37

These sections pertain to my current paper assignment by providing an example of a compare and contrast example essay, a classification essay, and a cause and effect essay example with an argument sample. The sample essays were helpful in giving me an idea of the structure of the compare and contrast essay and how to go about preparing my essay with identifying similarities and differences in Education by the different authors.  It helps with the argument and persuasion.

Omar

What is High School for?

I think the purpose of High School is to prepare students for college.  The foundations in English, Math, Science, History, Art and Tech Classes are set to give you a basic understanding of the major subjects and perhaps give you an insight into each so that maybe one subject will peak your interest for the future direction in studies that you might be interested in.  Peer pressure, competition, more homework, harder case loads, learning to drive/driving, jobs, relationships are all factors that students will/might experience and have to juggle while learning in an education program (experienced in both high school and college to different degrees).

Freire/Gatto

Freire and Gatto both agreed that the current state of education programs were lacking in providing  an education for children. They both question the purpose of education programs. What they were currently providing was 'schooling' to either fill empty vessels or  "designed to produce mediocre intellects" (Gatto).  Gatto compares secondary schools to "prisons" and "drill centers" that serves the purpose "to dumb people down". Freire also sees the schools as places where teachers just drill facts into the minds of the students or has he calls it "banking education" (Freire).  Freire's solution is problem-posing education that generates creative power.  I think that Gatto sees the problem as coming from beyond teachers to a government generated cause, while Freire sees the problem as coming more from the structure of the education system, teachers and curriculum. Changing the teaching style, teaching method and curriculum can be a solution for both views in which the current education  programs lack in their ability to encourage creative thought, individualism, and leaders. 

Using Sources Effectively

• According to Harrison Lowrey, Teacher at Berkeley HS for Social Studies, "We [the teachers] learn as much from our students as our students learn from us"(123).
• In an interview with Sean Connery on Goldfinger, he indicates that he was and will always be Hollywood's best James Bond.
• In the book The Amazing Spider-man, HS student Peter Parker writes,"With great power, also comes great responsibility"(115).

Micheal Bay is a movie director for the Warner Bros. Movie Institute, where he has been directing blockbuster movies for several different companies. In one of his movies Transformers, where one of the characters were gazing out to the sunset, he says, "Their is more to them, than meets the eye". In another movie, Terminator, in which one of the character's defeats an enemy, he shouts,"You've just been terminated!"    

Omar

Against School

I really think that what John Gatto wrote and believes about the purpose of public schools has some validity. I like that he backed up his argument with examples of successful people who went without formal public school education.  I also liked that he used examples of famous philosophers to back up his ideas.  He is obviously well educated and is familiar with the public school system since he worked in it for several decades. I do not have that kind of experience, although I am considered a public school student in High School.  However,  I am home schooled although receiving education materials from an online public school.  It is anything but boring.  My teachers are educated and encourage voicing opinions.  They look to produce thinkers and adventurers.  I cannot imagine sitting at a desk for hours every day at school.  I don't want to become an employee or a follower.  I want to be the entrepreneur who makes his own decisions and isn't worried about what he says.  Public Schools teach students that it is the 'land of the free', when in reality it is a land of fear and conformity. America used to be the most powerful continent in the world, a leader in everything.  It is no longer the leader. American students are no longer the ones in the front getting the best jobs, because they are not encouraged to be leaders anymore. I am happy to be home schooled.  I know that there is so much more to life, free of boredom and childishness.   

Reading Assignment: Paragraph and Essay Development

These sections were helpful as they pertained to the current Paper Assignment.  It is always good to start a paper with an outline to help you develop the structure of the paper or body, main points with supporting details and examples. The information on transitions between sentences and paragraph hook is important to the current assignment because it helps me to remember to make sure the paper is flowing smoothly.  Is the thesis statement clear and backed up by examples and details? Will it be in chronological order or enumeration?  The readings also provided sample paragraphs and essays to see as examples.  Who is the audience?  What message are you trying to convey?  Can the reader visualize it from the figurative language that I used?  These questions were all identified from reading the pages. The reading assignment helped me to brainstorm ideas,  and be comfortable in identifying the body structure of the paragraphs and essay that I will be using for my paper.

Omar

A Teacher Like Ms. Gruwell/Ms. Watson

I have had the privilege of having a teacher like Ms. Gruwell and Ms. Watson.  My teacher has tried to open my eyes to the possibilities and wonders of Science as Ms. Gruwell and Ms. Watson did with writing and art.  His teaching style and approach is unorthodox compared to other teachers, but he inspires me to look at Science from different perspectives, to love Science, and to believe in myself.  I can tell that he really cares about me learning and understanding what he is teaching just as Ms. Gruwell and Ms. Watson cared about their students. He goes above and beyond what is required to help me realize my potential.  I appreciate the opportunity to be a student of his.   

Lorde: "My first grade teacher was named Sister Mary of Perpetual Help, and she was a disciplinarian of the first order, right after my mother's own heart."

Me: During tenth grade, we had a science teacher we always use to call Mr. Holmes, and he was both a Chemistry and a Physical Science teacher at K-12 HS.

Rose: "Mike Rose is anything but average: he has published poetry, scholarly research, a textbook, and two widely praised books on education in America."

Me: Mr. Holmes is anything but average: He is a Brilliant chemistry teacher, an amazing scientist, a science encyclopedia, and the biggest and craziest football fan that exists today, all wrapped up in one.

Lorde: My father leaves his psychic print upon me, silent, intense, and unforgiving.

Me: Mr. Holmes always leaves his psychic print upon his students, motivational, inspirational, and unforgettable.  

Omar

Two Schools

Wellesley High School in Massachusetts and Woodrow Wilson High School in California were very different schools.  First of all, Wellesley High School was a preparatory school for young girls whose parents were affluent enough to pay for the private school located in a New England style atmosphere of having social standards and demanding good grades from their students.  Woodrow Wilson High School was a coed public school with students from a mix of ethnic backgrounds whose families were not financially well off.  Wellesley High School was more rigid in its curriculum and standards with the goal of preparing young girls to be valuable members of society.  Woodrow Wilson High School was not as specific in standards and did not see the potential of the students to be valuable members of society and their goal was just getting them to pass and graduate from high school. 

Omar

Is Ms. Gruwell a Good Teacher?

After watching the movie Freedom Writers, I can conclude that Ms. Gruwell is in fact a very good teacher. She was willing to go to any length and do anything to help her students succeed. For example, she got several other jobs other than the teaching job just so that she could buy new books for her students from her own pockets. She tried different approaches to break down the barriers so that her students would learn such as taking them to the Museum of Tolerance and have a speaker come to class to discuss her own experience and how it related to the reading of Anne Frank.  She even put her students education above her marriage.  She honestly cared about her students and was willing to go above and beyond what was required of her so that her students could reach their potential.

Omar

The Teachers I Will Write About

The two teachers I have chosen to write about for my Compare and Contrast paper are Mr. Holmes (my HS Science teacher), and my math teacher Ustadh.

Omar

Compare and Contrast Ms Gruwell/Ms. Watson

Ms. Gruwell and Ms. Watson are different in that they teach different subjects (one is English and the other is Art History), and their approach to teaching is different.  Although both try to open their students eyes to their own potential by introducing curriculum that is different, Ms. Watson leaves teaching at her school when she is forced to stick with the curriculum given to her.  Both teachers encourage their students to be more, but while Ms. Gruwell encourages her students to attend college and complete their high school education, Ms. Watson tries to encourage her students (all girls) to not just seek out just marriage, but to strive for a college education and more.  Both teachers do have to deal with adversity from within the upper management of school, but Ms. Gruwell also has to deal with the everyday violence she is surrounded by.  

Omar

Compare and Contrast Mr. Macfarlane/Ms. Gruwell

There are similarities and differences between Mr. Macfarlane and Ms. Gruwell.  Both teachers taught underprivileged students.  Other people saw both groups of students as un-teachable, but both teachers saw the potential of their students.  Both teachers also taught English. They introduced new and exciting authors/writing for their students to be exposed to.  Ms. Gruwell introduced them to the writing of Anne Frank and Mr. Macfarlane introduced his students to Nietzsche and Frost.  They both went above and beyond what was expected of them to break through the barriers to reach them and get them excited about learning.  Both teachers were well educated and chose to teach underprivileged high school students.  They ignited their student's interest in reading and writing. They both encouraged their students to go beyond high school, to go to college.  However, Mr. Macfarlane was more interested in expanding their knowledge, while Ms. Gruwell also did but taught them also about tolerance.  She also had to deal with constant violence around her, while Mr. Macfarlane did not.

Omar