3. Sir Ken Robinsons criteria for a good teacher was hard to pull from his lecture at first. His lecture stated the importance of creativity, the lack of nurturing this creativity, and some examples of times and places where it has been overlooked. For example when he talks about the woman Jillian who made Cats the musical, he refers to her young self. As a child the teachers thought she had some kind of disability, like she wasn't doing well in a school setting. She was brought to see a doctor and the doctor left her in the room after interviewing her. He left the music on and she began to dance. This doctor recommended that Jillian be put in dance school, where Jillian found many other students who were indeed, like her. She went on to become a very famous millionaire. This story reflects the main idea for his whole lecture. To pull from this what I believe Ken Robinson's criteria for a good teacher was not as easy as it wasn't stated out right. He says that teachers and the education system should help children to identify their talents through creative thoughts that have meaning . He would like to see teachers who recognize these talents to begin with. Since so much of our time in school is focused solely on Math, Science, English (or languages), and the "academics" of eduction, we tend to "begin focusing on our heads". Children become adults and become educated out of creativity, losing their ability to take chances, and basically losing the creativity because it is not at all focused on. For example, the little girl he mentions who says that she is drawing a picture of God, only to be told by her teacher, "no one knows what god looks like". She hadn't been intrigued by her class or seen doing much participation. She proves her creativity by involving herself in the drawing activity and responding with " well they will in a minute".
4. How would Robinson rate Mr Escalante?
Since Mr Escalante is focused on Math in the movie, I think Robinson would have to narrow down his expectations to a "math level" Instead of looking at creativity in the large aspects of life, he would have to see if Mr Escalante was creative in his department. The kids in "Stand and Deliver" are older and only in Mr Escalantes class for a short period each day. Yet I do think that Robinson would find Mr Escalante to meet many of his criteria for a good teacher. For example, Mr Escalante is creative himself. He finds ways to teach his students based upon their interests. Which is a quality valued by Robinson. Robinson says, "children should be taught dance like they are taught math" I do not know if he and Mr Escalante would agree on this because instead you see Mr Escalante personifying Robinsons idea that "in public schools we are teaching future college professors".You do not see a direct cooralation between being allowed a creative mind and learning calculus. But Mr Escalante drives in this quality in the way he gets through to the students, whether it is to get through to them on a personal level so they will challenge themselves, or get them to want to do the work.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
notes on "Mona Lisa Smile"
The movie opened up with a bit of talk about what the Wellesley School was, most renowned in the country, and an all girls school. Catherine Watson comes to Wellesley to "make a difference". She teaches art history. It was the Fall of 1953 and withing the first few minutes you see the amount of rituals, and old fashioned tradition that is so valued there at Wellesley. Everything is clean, girls are dressed very old fashioned and appear to be all somewhat wealthy. Mrs Watson reports to her new living quarters in the teachers dorms, after hearing the extensive set of rules for her there, especially the part about "no hot plate", she decided to live in a private home. This is the home owned by the Speech and etiquette teacher who runs it like a b and b. She will have her own area, and share the space with another teacher down the hall. This is Amanda Armstrong, the school nurse.
Mrs Watson enters her first day of class a bit nervously, she is warned that the girls can "smell her fear". She enters into a class full of very bubbly and excited girls, all overly prepared for the art history class having read the entire book before hand. They seem to know everything and have high standards set for their new professor. Mrs Watson is the one who is unprepared. Her entire lesson plan is already known by the girls in her class. They are clearly over achievers up until this point. Mrs Watson moved to the east coast from California and was in a state of culture shock.
She studies the girls files and sees what their accomplishments are. She returns to class with a new syllabus. She is warned by other faculty members of the control that the alumni have over what happens in the school. Armstrong the school nurses shows us a personal example of her handing out birth control and being fired for it.
Meanwhile you have these girls who only seem to value a man, being married, having children and the status that allows you. None of these girls seen to have much self worth, they cannot wait to be adults. One girl, Joan, who wants to major in Law, has no intention of actually doing so because she will just end up married before then. Another girl, Betty, gets married at an early age and becomes excited about a washer and dryer as opposed to having a college degree and becoming self sufficient. Betty is the one who got Armstrong fired, she argued it was illegal for her to hand out diaphragms.
There is a scene where the girls are having a race, the winner is to be the first one who gets married, kind of like when you catch the bouquet at a wedding. When Mrs Watson asks other teachers for advice, they state, "never getting noticed" is the key to surviving Wellesley.
One thing that caught my attention too, was how it seemed accepted by all that Giselle was having a relationship with her professor, yet birth control was not allowed? The staff and alumni in higher ranks seem to be concerned with the girls finding and making a family, not actually being schooled to become something else one day. Mrs Watson is conasidered "progressive", "liberal", and challenging of the "right way". Which immediatly draws attention to her as a new teacher. She is scolded by a superior who informs her that she basically wont make it there, they were waiting for her review in the spring.
Mrs Watson wants to help her students move forward, she begins to teach on more modern art, pushing one student in particular to go on to college as opposed to marriage. She found a way to get the girls to look outside the box. Reflect on their own oppinions instead of "whats right". She herself shows rebellious tendencies towards marrying the man she loves, preffering to push him away instead. Her personal love life suffers.
To be continued.......
Mrs Watson enters her first day of class a bit nervously, she is warned that the girls can "smell her fear". She enters into a class full of very bubbly and excited girls, all overly prepared for the art history class having read the entire book before hand. They seem to know everything and have high standards set for their new professor. Mrs Watson is the one who is unprepared. Her entire lesson plan is already known by the girls in her class. They are clearly over achievers up until this point. Mrs Watson moved to the east coast from California and was in a state of culture shock.
She studies the girls files and sees what their accomplishments are. She returns to class with a new syllabus. She is warned by other faculty members of the control that the alumni have over what happens in the school. Armstrong the school nurses shows us a personal example of her handing out birth control and being fired for it.
Meanwhile you have these girls who only seem to value a man, being married, having children and the status that allows you. None of these girls seen to have much self worth, they cannot wait to be adults. One girl, Joan, who wants to major in Law, has no intention of actually doing so because she will just end up married before then. Another girl, Betty, gets married at an early age and becomes excited about a washer and dryer as opposed to having a college degree and becoming self sufficient. Betty is the one who got Armstrong fired, she argued it was illegal for her to hand out diaphragms.
There is a scene where the girls are having a race, the winner is to be the first one who gets married, kind of like when you catch the bouquet at a wedding. When Mrs Watson asks other teachers for advice, they state, "never getting noticed" is the key to surviving Wellesley.
One thing that caught my attention too, was how it seemed accepted by all that Giselle was having a relationship with her professor, yet birth control was not allowed? The staff and alumni in higher ranks seem to be concerned with the girls finding and making a family, not actually being schooled to become something else one day. Mrs Watson is conasidered "progressive", "liberal", and challenging of the "right way". Which immediatly draws attention to her as a new teacher. She is scolded by a superior who informs her that she basically wont make it there, they were waiting for her review in the spring.
Mrs Watson wants to help her students move forward, she begins to teach on more modern art, pushing one student in particular to go on to college as opposed to marriage. She found a way to get the girls to look outside the box. Reflect on their own oppinions instead of "whats right". She herself shows rebellious tendencies towards marrying the man she loves, preffering to push him away instead. Her personal love life suffers.
To be continued.......
in class activity question #2
2.
Dan Brown states in his article that among many things that make a good teacher, student-teaching programs and experience, positive and constructive feedback from superiors, engaging in community affairs, and showing leadership with the students are all "ingredients" to make a good teacher. In the movie "Stand and Deliver", Mr Escalante is not experienced in teaching math. You see in this film when he first arrives that he had been hired on to teach computer class, but is placed in a math class that he is not trained to teach. Right away he is faced with rebellion from his students, when one young man, Angel, begins the movie with coming and going as he pleases. As well as inviting his friends in to threaten Mr. Escalante. Mr. Escalante had not been trained or observed this before in a student-teaching environment, which is suggested by Dan Brown. Even when the students state "this is our senior year, our year to slack off" and "whats calculus?" he managed to reel them in still. He also did not receive much if any support from his faculty and fellow staff members, which is something that Dan Brown states is important when being a good teacher. He is told that he "will disappoint the students when they do not pass the AP test". The first staff meeting shows other teachers quitting, while Mr. Escalante offers to teach more. Stating "children will rise to the expectations in which they are held" Lastly, we look at leadership and building a relationship with students, Mr. Escalante does this, and well. He sees a fight break out between gang members and immediately apprehends one of the students that is his own, Angel. He develops drum rolls that he and his students do together to get them excited about something in class. They miss him after he is away from school because of a heart attack. He allows Angel and his grandmother into his home and they become closer acquainted over dinner. Mr Escalante fits this portion of the criteria, the rest he was not as lucky to have. It was not ideal teaching standards to start with.
Dan Brown states in his article that among many things that make a good teacher, student-teaching programs and experience, positive and constructive feedback from superiors, engaging in community affairs, and showing leadership with the students are all "ingredients" to make a good teacher. In the movie "Stand and Deliver", Mr Escalante is not experienced in teaching math. You see in this film when he first arrives that he had been hired on to teach computer class, but is placed in a math class that he is not trained to teach. Right away he is faced with rebellion from his students, when one young man, Angel, begins the movie with coming and going as he pleases. As well as inviting his friends in to threaten Mr. Escalante. Mr. Escalante had not been trained or observed this before in a student-teaching environment, which is suggested by Dan Brown. Even when the students state "this is our senior year, our year to slack off" and "whats calculus?" he managed to reel them in still. He also did not receive much if any support from his faculty and fellow staff members, which is something that Dan Brown states is important when being a good teacher. He is told that he "will disappoint the students when they do not pass the AP test". The first staff meeting shows other teachers quitting, while Mr. Escalante offers to teach more. Stating "children will rise to the expectations in which they are held" Lastly, we look at leadership and building a relationship with students, Mr. Escalante does this, and well. He sees a fight break out between gang members and immediately apprehends one of the students that is his own, Angel. He develops drum rolls that he and his students do together to get them excited about something in class. They miss him after he is away from school because of a heart attack. He allows Angel and his grandmother into his home and they become closer acquainted over dinner. Mr Escalante fits this portion of the criteria, the rest he was not as lucky to have. It was not ideal teaching standards to start with.
in class activity question #1
1.
When describing a good teacher I think of someone with the desire to teach, accceptance and patience with all types of students, and creativity in planning the lessons. This is what i wrote about in my blog, "what I think a good teacher is". Mr Escalante, from the movie, "Stand and Deliver" shows different ways of teaching that pertain to the qualities I most admire. Mr Escalante shows his desire to teach when he drives such a distance to his new job, even then after learning that the job he was hired for does not exist because there are no computers and no funding for computers. He continues to want to teach there and is placed into a classroom to teach math. He displays different teaching methods that pertain to different types of students. He believes his students are capable of learning a higher level of math and begins to teach them calculus. His students are then required to get a signature from home saying they may participate in this class. Mr Escalante is able to convince his students that above working for the summer, this should take rank in importance. In one case this meant going to the business of a students father and after having a heated argument is able to persuade the father as well. All of this no matter where the student came from, or what his/her learning abilities had been defined as up to that point. Mr. Escalante shows he is very creative and will try different tactics to reach his studnets. He takes them outside of the school for a field trip and adds humor with his sometimes insulting comments. He gets them involved one day by wearing an apron to class and chopping up apples to represent fractions, and using word problems that they can relate to that catch their attention.
When describing a good teacher I think of someone with the desire to teach, accceptance and patience with all types of students, and creativity in planning the lessons. This is what i wrote about in my blog, "what I think a good teacher is". Mr Escalante, from the movie, "Stand and Deliver" shows different ways of teaching that pertain to the qualities I most admire. Mr Escalante shows his desire to teach when he drives such a distance to his new job, even then after learning that the job he was hired for does not exist because there are no computers and no funding for computers. He continues to want to teach there and is placed into a classroom to teach math. He displays different teaching methods that pertain to different types of students. He believes his students are capable of learning a higher level of math and begins to teach them calculus. His students are then required to get a signature from home saying they may participate in this class. Mr Escalante is able to convince his students that above working for the summer, this should take rank in importance. In one case this meant going to the business of a students father and after having a heated argument is able to persuade the father as well. All of this no matter where the student came from, or what his/her learning abilities had been defined as up to that point. Mr. Escalante shows he is very creative and will try different tactics to reach his studnets. He takes them outside of the school for a field trip and adds humor with his sometimes insulting comments. He gets them involved one day by wearing an apron to class and chopping up apples to represent fractions, and using word problems that they can relate to that catch their attention.
what makes a good teacher?
When discussing the qualities that make up a good teacher, I think of desire first. Obviously there are many more things that need to come after that to have obtained this status, but first and foremost, desire. I am currently attending this class and all my other required classes to one day become a teacher myself. I have that desire. It is something I want to do for the rest of my working years.
There is no way I would feel like I was a good teacher if I had finished school and been sent immediately out into the field. I am a strong believer in student teaching. I think teachers in training should see all kinds of student and teacher interactions from the stand point of an observer, before they can make those judgements on their own. I am sure there are many amazing teachers throughout history that entered straight into the classroom after certification, or college graduation, but to enter the classroom with that specialized experience is a smart way to go.
I also believe that good teachers do not pass judgement. We must not judge the students by their abilities, or lack there of, social class, behavioral problems, passiveness, or any other thing that could directly affect their drive or participation in class. I think good teachers can provide a learning experience with value to every kind of learner, every kind of student.
Creativity is also very important in the classroom, I believe especially in elementary school when you are allowed so much more time in the day for classroom learning and discussion. I think its harder for High school teachers because of so many teenager life aspects being brought in and the simple lack of time with the same group of students.
Be creative and apply your teaching skills to all types of learners, moving from inside the classroom, to outdoors if possible. Use different teaching methods inside and outside, let the students ask questions, and help to develop their young minds.
There is no way I would feel like I was a good teacher if I had finished school and been sent immediately out into the field. I am a strong believer in student teaching. I think teachers in training should see all kinds of student and teacher interactions from the stand point of an observer, before they can make those judgements on their own. I am sure there are many amazing teachers throughout history that entered straight into the classroom after certification, or college graduation, but to enter the classroom with that specialized experience is a smart way to go.
I also believe that good teachers do not pass judgement. We must not judge the students by their abilities, or lack there of, social class, behavioral problems, passiveness, or any other thing that could directly affect their drive or participation in class. I think good teachers can provide a learning experience with value to every kind of learner, every kind of student.
Creativity is also very important in the classroom, I believe especially in elementary school when you are allowed so much more time in the day for classroom learning and discussion. I think its harder for High school teachers because of so many teenager life aspects being brought in and the simple lack of time with the same group of students.
Be creative and apply your teaching skills to all types of learners, moving from inside the classroom, to outdoors if possible. Use different teaching methods inside and outside, let the students ask questions, and help to develop their young minds.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Audre Lorde's essay
Audre Lorde is able to "show her readers" what her teachers were like with many experiences she describes in detail.
Her mother was the one who taught her the discipline she needed in the household. She still proved to be a bit rambunctious, but she knew she did not want to disappoint her mother by getting into trouble. She describes this with many examples of ear pinching, arm pinching, and leaving bruises. She lets the readers know the amount of control the parents had over their daughters when it came to school.
Audre's first encounter with wanting to read came from a woman who can be considered "her teacher" as well. This librarian sparked an interest in Audre as a young girl. She describes how she felt "sold on reading for the rest of her life". That makes me wonder if she would have found out she was good at it had she not met this woman, Mrs. Baker. Would she have spoken at that age had she not heard the stories?
When Audre was first placed into Kindergarten, she had been doing some at home schooling with her mother prior to attending school. She entered the class with more knowledge than other students and her teacher reacted with negative and what I consider hurtful comments. She belittled Audre for the skill she had already possessed. She makes the audience see that the teacher had not really given her a chance to show her capabilities. Maybe because she was in a class for children who were slightly challenged by their sight problems, the teacher thought she should not have had those qualities with writing yet.
Her teacher in the catholic school is described as ruling "with an iron hand in the shape of a cross" Sister Mary of Perpetual Help ran her classroom with very religious and controlling techniques, often seen in a catholic school. Audre provides evidence that the teacher did not give Audre the recognition she should have for her abilities. She was struggling with her numbers and there is nothing in the story that says this Sister did any extra helping to get Audre up to par on number recognition. She was accused of not doing her own work and the Sister MPH, only believed young Audre once her parents stepped forth and proved her innocence.
I see many descriptions throughout the reading that show me what kind of teachers young Audre was faced with. It seems very challenging in comparison with our young kindergartners experience these days. We are now in a much more encouraging and nurturing environment from K-12.
Her mother was the one who taught her the discipline she needed in the household. She still proved to be a bit rambunctious, but she knew she did not want to disappoint her mother by getting into trouble. She describes this with many examples of ear pinching, arm pinching, and leaving bruises. She lets the readers know the amount of control the parents had over their daughters when it came to school.
Audre's first encounter with wanting to read came from a woman who can be considered "her teacher" as well. This librarian sparked an interest in Audre as a young girl. She describes how she felt "sold on reading for the rest of her life". That makes me wonder if she would have found out she was good at it had she not met this woman, Mrs. Baker. Would she have spoken at that age had she not heard the stories?
When Audre was first placed into Kindergarten, she had been doing some at home schooling with her mother prior to attending school. She entered the class with more knowledge than other students and her teacher reacted with negative and what I consider hurtful comments. She belittled Audre for the skill she had already possessed. She makes the audience see that the teacher had not really given her a chance to show her capabilities. Maybe because she was in a class for children who were slightly challenged by their sight problems, the teacher thought she should not have had those qualities with writing yet.
Her teacher in the catholic school is described as ruling "with an iron hand in the shape of a cross" Sister Mary of Perpetual Help ran her classroom with very religious and controlling techniques, often seen in a catholic school. Audre provides evidence that the teacher did not give Audre the recognition she should have for her abilities. She was struggling with her numbers and there is nothing in the story that says this Sister did any extra helping to get Audre up to par on number recognition. She was accused of not doing her own work and the Sister MPH, only believed young Audre once her parents stepped forth and proved her innocence.
I see many descriptions throughout the reading that show me what kind of teachers young Audre was faced with. It seems very challenging in comparison with our young kindergartners experience these days. We are now in a much more encouraging and nurturing environment from K-12.
section 28-30
I really liked reading through these sections. I feel like with our first paper there was less "essay format". We were given a chance in the first essay to write in narrative form. Our essays followed and order, mostly chronological, but they did not follow an essay outline format. We did not use a thesis statement in our first paper. This section goes over forming your thesis and what the intro, body and closing paragraphs should cover. It helps me to remind myself, "who is my audience" and "what is my purpose". I like using the roman numerals and completely outlining my essay before committing it to paper or drafting it. It has been a while since I have written any essays with this method. I look forward to being able to refer back to the book and using the examples to format my essay. Although our essays will be longer, and covering a compare/contrast topic in education, I feel this will help a lot in narrowing down information to use.
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