Dead Poets Society... Two Different Teachers

The movie opens showing a proper school environment, definitely contrasting from where Mr. Escalante taught his students. There’s a new teacher (Mr. Keaty?) whom the students react differently to, probably because he is new. Tradition and excellence are regarded highly in this school.

This school is different than the school in Stand and Deliver… its got rules, the students are held to a certain standard of excellence, it’s a boarding school/prep school, and there’s no room to mess around.

Robin Williams’s character in the film teaches the students many things about life, things that the students are not learning in their other classes. He pushes them to excel and to achieve greatness much like Mr. Escalante’s character, unlike him though William’s character is a free spirit who goes with the flow and is doesn’t criticize his students.

This school is not one where students are typically allowed to think freely, which is why I think that the Dead Poets Society is captivating to so many of them.

The students in this school are given lots of opportunities to excel, whereas students in Stand and Deliver are not… they are rebellious behind closed doors, where the Stand and Deliver students are rebellious where everyone can see them.

The two teachers are similar in their passion and drive for teaching; they both want their students to excel. They both have backgrounds similar to the students.

I look forward to the rest of the film!

MacFarland and Escalante

There are definitely significant differences between the teaching styles of MacFarland and Escalante… but even more than the differences? The similarities. It’s quite obvious that both men want their students to succeed… Escalante by his bold, out there lessons often found him dressing in costume and returning to class not long after having a heart attack.

MacFarland would give his students quizzes every other day, whether or not they felt ready for them. He would ask the students questions, but unlike Escalante he would help the students out if they didn’t understand… Escalante often left his students to figure out their mistakes on their own. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a different method of teaching.

Mike Rose states in his essay how MacFarland was an example to him, and he states multiple times throughout that MacFarland made Rose feel special by using his mind. Escalante made his students feel special using similar methods… though he would look more for the students to find those things within themselves rather then just telling them that they were special.

Both instructors were clear in informing their students of the importance of a higher education, and they helped them to find ways to better achieve those goals. They were friends, teachers, and examples for their students and deserve all the recognition they’ve been given. 

Stand and Deliver 2

This film by the end turned out to be one of the best I’ve ever seen. It shows that though people may be down on you, that you can succeed if you try hard enough and put your heart into it. Mr. Escalante put heart and soul into his teaching and getting to know and love his students… it paid of greatly when all the students passed the AP exam after having to retake it. I find it sad they had to retake it since I’m quite certain it was an act of racism on the AP testing boards side, but I’m glad the film had a happy ending and that we were able to get some resolution with all the students turning out to be successful.

I liked how the students and Mr. Escalante grew to love and know one another. A great deal of trust was shown as well between the students and the teacher. Trust like that is earned, and it’s nice to see good values and ideas excel in a not so nice environment. He grew to care about them like they were his own children and not necessarily just his students. I loved this movie!

pondering my essay

I’ve started contemplating which teachers I would like to use in my next paper… I’ve had a lot of good teachers over the years, a lot of bizarre teachers for sure, but only two real bad teachers.

The good teachers I’ll be writing about will come from elementary and high school. My 6^th grade teacher, second grade teacher, and my high school theatre teacher. They all taught me some unforgettable lessons and taught me more than I ever thought I could learn from a teacher, not just about the curriculum, but about life in general as well.

My bad example teachers will come from elementary and high school. My elementary school teacher was from when I was in fourth grade. She got mad because I wasn’t very good at math, and so I would call my mom everyday during math time with a “stomach ache” just so I wouldn’t have to sit through it. My other bad example is my high school sign language teacher. She was just a rude person in general, and because I had a talking problem like most high school girls do she accused me of being on drugs and sent me out into the hallway. Seeing as I’ve never done drugs before in my life I immediately went down to the principal’s office, and, well… you’ll see what happens.

I plan on taking the best and worst parts of every teacher and compiling them together.  

Stand and Deliver Part One

For the sake of a lot of typing and space I will refer to Mr. Escalante when referring to the movie “Stand and Deliver” as E. Here are just a few quick observations I wrote while watching the first half of the movie.

E begins his journey driving to the school through a part of town to a school that doesn’t look well taken care of or like it would not have the best reputation. He shows up thinking he would be teaching computer science, only to find out the school has no computers and that he has to teach math.

He really wants to teach these kids how to be better, and how to be successful.

Random Note: The rebellious character is really quite annoying.

E knows how to relate to his students, which makes me think that he may share a background that is similar to some of the lives that these children are living currently.

E is the kind of teacher whom understands his kids, he’s also one of the only educators who believe that his students are able to achieve far more than other people think. He wants to teach the students more difficult topics, and wants them to be able to have better jobs.

The one negative I found in this movie was the quote that the student’s mother said which was, “boys don’t like it if you’re too smart.” I find that to be extremely ridiculous and I disagree one hundred percent with that statement. I’m so glad my mother is nothing like that at all.

A good, dedicated teacher might make for problems at home…

I look forward to the rest of this movie!

What do I value in a teacher?

There are quite a few things I value in a teacher:

1.    I value a teacher that makes things challenging, not necessarily the curriculum but a teacher that forces me out of my bubble. Workng is groups, in pairs, etc.  

2.    I value a teacher who sticks to the curriculum, I enjoy people typically who march to their own drum. But when it comes to a teacher I like one that sticks to the subject in which they are teaching.

3.    Teachers who make learning fun, projects, crossword puzzles, and has tips and tricks to help make us be successful.

4.    A good teacher is one who is prepared. They know what is going to happen day by day, they have a syllabus, and a plan for the quarter/semester.

5.    My favorite teachers were always the ones who let me be myself. When it comes to writing, projects, drawings, video production projects, I liked teachers who allowed me to go out of the box a little bit but who pushed me to always remain on topic.

6.    I like teachers who grade assignments within an appropriate amount of time and who make comments on assignments I turn in. It makes me feel like they value my work, and cared about the hours I put into an assignment. 

New Spelling of My Name

 The way in which Audre Lorde portrayed the teachers in her essay “From Zami: A New Spelling of My Name” was compare and contrast. Not in a straight up fashion mind you but in a way where the readers were caused to make their own mind up.

Lorde explained the differences between the teachers.

Mrs. Baker was the kind, polite librarian whom really taught Lorde to read. She didn’t do it in a condescending way, and caused Lorde to be excited about learning how to read, she allowed her to read things, which were exciting to her and made her mother proud.

Miss. Teacher who remained nameless was the complete opposite, she made Lorde and her mother uncomfortable so she was pulled from that school.

Sister Mary was Lordes teacher at her new school, she was similar to Miss. Teacher in some of her teaching methods. However in this school Lorde was able to progress and learn how to apply her reading skills to reading simple things.

Overall the essay compared and contrasted the teachers without necessarily comparing and contrasting. It was more of the writer discussing her experiences and leaving us to compare and contrast as the reader. All the learning experiences were different and effected Lorde in different ways. 

But mom, I don't WANT to study history.

The Ken Robinson touched on a lot of interesting points about education… some I agreed with, and some that after thinking about I don’t agree with at all.

He states that everyone has a story about education, which is true. Everyone has had their own experiences with education and have positive and negative experiences to say about that experience.

Something he stated that I don’t agree with is that he feels the goal of public education is to produce university professors. I don’t agree with that, in school I was never pushed to pursue anything that I didn’t want to. I had the option of doing things that were art related, and I’m grateful for all of the “mainstream” education that I received. It’s good to be a well-rounded individual. Sometimes people need to be pushed out of their box in order to learn new things and skills. Who knows, maybe the art student sitting next to you could have the brain to be a high-powered CEO but nobody will ever know because he’d always be sitting in art classes.

I do agree with what he stated at the end of the segment about how a BA used to be good for some jobs now it’s all PhD getting the jobs. I’m finding that even with a degree and loads of experience that I’m losing jobs to people who have little to no experience but with heavier degrees.