Mexican American Studies

To see such an outcome for something so promising is truly sad. Whether or not what the class reinforced is hard to say, but the progress that it stood for is what everyone feared. Society worldwide is suffering from racism and prejudice. The idea that Latinos could become well educated as a united ethnicity would scare the hell out of your average white politician. It’s sad to see that after all these years, race still matters to people. Race is merely a label and boy do Americans love labels. Racism and sexism has indeed shrunk immensely, but when it comes to positions of power it holds true. In the end, that is all it boils down to. Minorities cannot be successful or to your typical white American, that is scary as all hell. You don’t see Asian school bus drivers, all yard workers are Hispanic and black people are in every KFC commercial. God Bless America… right? It can range from large to small in the ways that America devalues what it means to be “American” unless you’re a white one and that is most likely what happened to the MAS program at TUSD. The managed to produce unheard of numbers from Latino students and suddenly it is like some cult dedicated to hate the white man. Goodness knows if the Latinos want to come together as an ethnicity and become well-educated then that means it is to overthrow America. Just goes to show you that freedom still is not free.

Against School

I could not agree more with John Gatto. His ideas on boredom that his grandfather taught him, that it is our own fault and no one else’s. We all have the ability to instruct ourselves. This relates back a few blogs about how we all need a purpose. Without a purpose, you surely will become bored. Gatto also spoke on the necessity of schooling. Not education, but schooling and as John put it, schooling’s “deadly routine.” That we are forced to sit down and most likely relearn content numerous times over for roughly twelve years of our life, which falls back onto the banking concept that we previously discussed. Teachers need to adapt to each of their classes, meaning teachers cannot be just anyone. They can’t just spew information as we sit, mouths ajar, collecting all the dribble. Schooling has risen to a point where education is on the back burner. Schools are just meant to put out socially acceptable students not well-educated ones. Gatto sums it up in this list, “1) To make good people. 2) To make good citizens. 3) To make each person his or her personal best.” They way schools are setup now are almost custom tailored to suppress great minds. Anyone with an abstract frame of thought is deemed wrong instantly and shuttled away to be reformatted with the appropriate school software.

A Real Education

Mark Greenberg is trying to mend the social awkwardness that so many children from this generation suffer from. Not everyone is a social butterfly and nor should they have to be. At the same time they cannot fear even the most basic social interaction. Something that K-12 schooling does not seem to touch on a whole lot. I suppose what schools need is some form of a psychology or at least public speaking class. Boyce argues that students need to be able to be, “…able to calm yourself and regulate your emotions in a variety of situations; understand your own emotions, accurately perceive others’ emotions, and empathize; listen attentively to what someone is saying, negotiate, and confidently persuade; think through problems effectively while considering others’ perspectives.” A hefty load to be dumped on anyone’s plate and could easily be peaked in some form of a psychology class. Just to allow insight into the human mind. Students would begin to understand why people do things and read them more effectively, effectively, raising the level of manners in students, in theory. They would realize that they are not alone in their social anxiety. The idea of mindfulness is to promote, “A kind of non-elaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is,” defined by Bishop, Lau and colleagues. Essentially, pay attention to the person you are speaking to, accept what they are saying and do not argue it? ...maybe. Not so sure that I can agree with that. I support a more in depth understanding of conversation for our students, but if I am interpreting this correctly, we don’t need more passives in this world.

Tough Love

I agree with the ideas that Large has put forth. It is understandable that parents wish to baby their children forever, but the world surely will not. The idea is to nurture your children from the start just as any parent would then know when to step back and let the child develop on their own. As the article states, “…if you want success, build character and the rest will follow.” This would work in K-12 schooling as I believe a lot of teachers try to incorporate a similar idea, at least in my experience. No one is there to hold your hand, unless you need it. I have had multiple classes throughout my K-12 career that consisted of self-taught classes. The teacher was their teacher another class, but if I needed the assistance I was free to ask for help. You have that comfort zone of knowing the teacher is there, but at the same time you are, in a sense, totally self reliant to effectively absorb the text. Students should not expect their teachers to be there step by step through every problem. Rather, they should build up our ability to be self-taught in early levels of schooling and slowly let us develop the ability to learn on our own. Which… unfortunately, not a whole lot of high school students could do. We all have the ability to learn, some less than others, but I have noticed it is all about why you’re learning that makes the difference. The article mentions Tough started his book with an article about rats, that rats who were nurtured young stress to do better in life. That is what I’m talking about. You need to understand the purpose of learning. Not just the idea of, I’m at school so I have to. Disregard those thoughts, you need to learn, whether it is for your parents, your teachers, your dog or you. It doesn’t matter what the purpose is, but the idea needs to be imprinted young that there is one. With a purpose comes grit, which is a reoccurring word and title of Tough’s article. Merriam-Webster defines grit as, “firmness of mind or spirit: unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger.” Purpose brings forth that grit and courage. Children who are babied until they become adults can never understand the purpose of even the most mundane tasks. If our schools follow suit and wrap their students in blankies and spoon feed their lessons every day then how will they grasp the purpose of learning.

Paper 2

            Two of my most cherished high school teachers, Mr. Burchill and Mr. Wilson, are both very incredible men that I was so thankful to have in my life, but were two very different people. Though they were both positive role models in my life, they did it in their own unique ways. Obviously these differences are due to their opposing demeanor and style of teaching. Being a teacher is greatly affected by who you are and the life you have led, but at the end of the day you have a purpose. You are there to prepare students for the rest of their lives because not all children have a person to play that role. A quote by Charles Platt captures that perfectly, "Compassionate teachers fill a void left by working parents who aren't able to devote enough attention to their children. Teachers don't just teach; they can be vital personalities who help young people to mature, to understand the world and to understand themselves. A good education consists of much more than useful facts and marketable skills."       Truly, the most ideal role a teacher can play for his student is that of a coach, whether it be life coach or a school coach, Mr. Burchill and Mr. Wilson embody that role.
            Demeanor plays a huge role in first impressions with a teacher and its consistency is equally important. A teacher that day in and day out comes to work and is the same person is going to hit home with students more. If they continuously come to work every day offering the same attitude to you then you are going to offer the same to them. Mr. Burchill did just that. He came to work every morning and he smiled, gleamed, and showed he wanted to be there. I can vividly remember his  big, goofy grin. In turn, his students wanted to do the same for him. I showed up everyday with a good attitude and ready to learn because he did the same. Mr. Burchill could be a silly man, but when it was crunch time, the classroom was no nonsense. Education was held in the highest regard in Burchill's class. Mr. Wilson may not have shown the same enthusiasm, but he showed his appreciation that you were there. As he went through roll, he would always thank all of us for showing up. He would always refer to himself as the “Almighty One” or “His Majesty”, something to that effect. A lot like John Keating's quote in Dead Poets Society, “O Captain, my Captain. Who knows where that comes from? Anybody? Not a clue? It's from a poem by Walt Whitman about Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Now in this class you can either call me Mr. Keating, or if you're slightly more daring, O Captain my Captain.”  It was in good fun and showed to us that he enjoyed being there. He would take a rooted interest your future and he would talk to you about it after class. It wasn't just a few times it was weekly and he always remembered what you had said. It wasn't like he was just on auto-pilot for your conversations. He was a genuine man that genuinely cared about each and every one of his students. We all cared about him in return, especially about what he was teaching. Mr. Wilson, as a history teacher, valued our education on the past, but at the same time wanted to fortify our futures. Their attitude positively affected everyone in their classroom. Which resulted in their students acting similar to that of the teachers which benefited the classroom environment and effectiveness of lessons.

            Effectiveness and styling of teaching is a large idea of what defines a teacher. Burchill is a complex man and his style of teaching reflected that. He kept you on your path. All the students that did not want to learn, he would make them want to learn. No disrespect or defiance was taken sitting down. Burchill had a way of injecting the will to learn into your veins. When he spoke to you in a way that made you rise to the occasion. Just as Mr. Escalante said, “Students will rise to the level of expectation.” Burchill did just that. He sped up courses and squeezed everything into a day that he could. If you needed help after class you bet you would be seeing him there as late as possible every day. Burchill had a knack for drawing out every ounce of potential out of his students.  At the same time, Burchill respected how each of his students learned. Wilson was carving out your future with you and helping you connect the dots. He valued his curriculum and he valued the well being of his students. As Freire stated in The Banking Concept of Education, “... it turns them into “containers”, into “receptacles” to be “filled” by the teacher.” [1] We were not seen in this fashion by Mr. Wilson. He valued our individuality and played to that with his teachings. Always using important tidbits that were interesting to us to lead into his lessons. Wilson would crack jokes about what he was reading during his teachings. The man had an great overall style of teaching that perfectly captured who he was. Teaching to him was meant to be fun and the way he did it reflected that. To him, time spent in the classroom was meant to be full of positive memories. They may have varying teaching styles but they were both effective in their own special way, whether it be in benefiting education or life.

            Though Mr. Burchill and Mr. Wilson have a different approach to teaching, the underlying effects from both of them are positive. They both care about the future of their students whether it be academics or personal life. In their classrooms the students were pushed to the boundaries in school and self discovery. Mr. Burchill had a more fierce and aggressive approach to teaching, whereas Wilson had a gentle and caring stance. These styles made them great teachers in their respective ways and any student would be honored to have sat in their presence. Great minds like theirs are what help mold us, the future generation. They fulfill the criteria set in an article by Carol Tomlinson, “The good teacher communicates a deep regard for students' lives, a regard infused with unblinking attention, respect, even awe. An engaged teacher begins with the belief that each student is unique, each the one and only who will ever trod the earth, each worthy of a certain reverence. Regard extends, importantly, to an insistence that students have access to the tools with which to negotiate and transform the world.” The role of coach is perfectly portrayed by these magnificent teachers.

           

Paolo Freire

Standardized testing goes against everything Freire protests in the chapter. Students would be filled with the same knowledge as one another and then be asked to dispense this knowledge on their test. Paolo Freire captures this idea by stating, “Narration leads the students to memorize mechanically the narrated content.” That we are just meant to filled, like some hard drive. Then if we fail to produce the content that was narrated to us, we are considered defective rather than unique. Freire seems to be getting at that everyone is an individual and we cannot learn as a whole. Everyone is their own person and therefore will develop their own set of ideas and thoughts. Meaning, they will not need to learn the same material as the person next to them. Education should occur on a more personal level and not this mass manufacturing sense that is. We are not just corporate robots requiring assembly at a young age. We deserve to create our own ideologies. Not force fed the spew of what others so blindly conceive as correct. To think that we should be evaluated on the same level as others around us is preposterous. We are showing our future generations that conformity is the path to success. That if you fall into the lines and learn just like the others, pass all the tests and that is how you make strides in life.

Paper 2 - Help

I'm not quite solid on this yet so maybe you guys can help me. The idea I am going for is... Somewhere along the lines of a teacher should be a like best friend, but in a difference sense. From my experience, my favorite teachers were people I could sit down after class and talk to, about anything. These were the classes I learned the most from as well. Making that connection with teachers like Mr. Burchill and Mr. Wilson were the reasons I went to school. They made the effort to make connections with us students and it made me want to listen, learn and do the best I could. If you can make class enjoyable on that kind of level like they did for me then you are doing it right as a teacher.

The problem I am having though is that, A teacher should be a best friend, is kind of a wacky thesis idea. It's not even that they are like a best friend, more like a counselor, but not even that. You know, not just someone that is a wealth of knowledge, but someone that you can talk to and they talk to you. Not even just on the issue in my life, but about what we did on the weekends and how things were. Without sacrificing that student teacher bond. I mean in my mind to describe that kind of person is to someone would to call them a teacher. So I need some input on how to sum it up for a thesis then fully lay it out in the paper.  

Mr E vs Mr K

Mr. Escalante is a guy that is all about tough love. He really feels for his students and wants them to go far, but that doesn’t mean he is going to baby them. He makes them put their big kid gloves on and hold on for the ride, no one is allowed off. He believes in his kids and they prove him right. Twice! He may be unconventional, but hell, a lot of the best people are. Take Mr. Keating for instance, also considered very unorthodox in his place of teaching, though he was without a doubt the most beloved teacher at Welton. Unfortunately, for Mr. Keating, at least with the information given, had a short lived time and left no standing effect at Welton. Though, Mr. E went on to have all his students pass the exam and the school continued on to produce a rising number for the years to come. Not to say that Mr. K wasn’t just as great as Mr. E, but it is all in the audience you teach to. At Welton, many students were blinded by fear and Mr. Keating really tried to break them of that and he succeeded in several of his students. Mr. Escalante only had to imprint self confidence in his students and that is damn hard to do. Fear just happened to be stronger.

Welton vs Garfield

Obviously, Welton Academy and Garfield High School are going to have similarities and differences. They both contain teachers and students. Both have students who want to be there and do not want to. One school has the bottom of the barrel as staff as the other has the top of the charts. Which is why, one is private and one is public. Both schools are utterly awful in their own way. Garfield is just a dump with outdated everything and staff that couldn’t really be bothered to even try a little and really make a difference. The students are there just to ride it out and hope for the best. If I recall correctly, if it weren’t for it weren’t for Mr. E the school was going to be shut down due to cut funding. That’s how bad of a job they were doing. Welton is home to the best of the best assholes for administrators. I understand that it was a different time and a private school, but every time I watch that movie it infuriates me. Imagine paying to put up with that kind of treatment. Being paddled for instance, I would have never, “Assumed the position.” I would of punched him in the face and walked home.