Final Draft Paper #3

Sydney Mitchell        

Dr. Sonia Begert

English 101

5 December 2012      

Imagine a room plagued by chaos. Swear words vandalizing your ears, children screaming and running throughout, desks and chairs strewn along the floor, the students blissfully oblivious to the fact that they are being utterly disrespectful to the authority figure standing timidly by the door. Now take a moment and replace that image with an orderly classroom occupied by students eager to learn, their attention directed solely at the teacher who is standing at the head of the class. What is the difference between these two scenarios, you ask? There is a certain component missing, a key ingredient; mutual respect. Regardless of the age of the students or the subject being taught, the component that is most necessary in a classroom is respect. Respect, as a give-and-take entity, enables the teacher to capture the students’ full attention and interest while still enabling the students to explore their creativity and grow as individuals, learning in a way that speaks to them. Unfortunately respect can be difficult to cultivate in an unruly classroom. If I was given the responsibility of managing an unruly classroom and cultivating respect, I would strive to get their attention, present myself as an unwavering authority, raise the bar for my students, and strive to teach them material that they would not only enjoy but also use in daily life.

            Methods of kindling respect will vary depending on the age of the students and the subject at hand. Therefore in order to accurately mold our tactics around the situation we must first set the stage. If I were to teach I would choose to be a tenth grade English Communications teacher because as C.S. Lewis so eloquently put it, “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides, and in this respect it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” Literature is a key component to allowing creativity into academics as well as developing communication skills, which integrates into everyday life.

We must come up with some attention-grabbing, jaw-dropping antic to effectively gain and maintain the students’ attention. As Barry Boyce said it in his essay A Real Education, “attention is one of the greatest challenges for children, and perhaps only more so in a world offering so much distraction so frequently.”  As the students began to trickle into the classroom on the first day of class, I would close my eyes and remain silent as I wrote on the blackboard, allowing jagged, erratic scribbles to craft my story. I would remain completely engrossed in my work, thinking freely, writing whatever came to mind upon the board and crossing out that which didn’t please me. As the last few students settled into their seats and gazed upon their mysterious teacher, I would suddenly stop and step back, silent for a moment before reading my story aloud. The story would need to be captivating and shocking, enough so to leave an impression. I would then instruct the students that throughout the semester they would be learning to craft works such as this by letting their mind wander to the places they thought they dare not go, for it is the dark recesses of our creative brain that contain the greatest topics. Not only would the students enjoy his exercise because it should allow them be boldly imaginative, but they would also be quite entranced in knowing that I was taking them on an adventure and they wouldn’t quite know what to expect. I would certainly keep them on their toes.

            Secondly, I would stick to my word and whether I made promises of reward or consequence, I would be sure to implement those actions. By standing my ground and staying true to my pre-discussed arrangements which would also be presented on the first day of class, the students would recognize that I held to my word with the utmost dedication. Granted, there must be a balance somewhere in the middle of the spectrum ranging from dictatorial authoritarian to complete pushover. In A New Spelling of My Name, Audre Lorde writes of her experiences in the school system as a young girl, musing “my first grade teacher, Sister Mary of Perpetual Help, was a disciplinarian of the first order…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 wouldn’t feel the strap on me behind when I was punished.” The notion that a mere first grader would experience this form of discipline is heart wrenching. No child of any age should be treated in this way. Thus, we must take this extreme and pull it a bit down the spectrum towards a gentler touch. If we can achieve a healthy balance of authority, then we are already well on our way to acquiring the respect of students, because they will respect discipline, just as they will appreciate reward.

  Often it seems that teachers allow their students to scrape by in class, putting forth the bare minimum of effort and allowing excuses for what is best described as sheer lack of discipline. The 2010 documentary film Waiting for ‘Superman’ gives us the term “dropout factories,” which is defined as a high school where “no more than sixty percent of freshmen make it to senior year.” The school districts shake their heads at these numbers, pointing their fingers at the students. It never ceases to amaze me the way in which we tend to scoff at our students’ plummeting grades and their lack of self-motivation, because how can we expect any different if we as teachers do not expect them to succeed and believe they have the power to do so? If we raise the bar of expectations, the students will quite naturally rise to it, or at least make more of an effort to do so. The students would not only respect me as their teacher for helping them set and achieve a higher goal, but they would respect themselves for completing the task which they previously thought impossible; setting a high bar and rising to it.

            However above all else, I believe that it is of the utmost important to avoid teaching monotonous materials solely for the sake of hoping to get students to do well on a standardized test. In his essay The Banking Concept of Education, Paulo Friere states that traditional, droning education often “anesthetizes and inhibits creative power, whereas give-and-take education involved a constant unveiling of reality.” In my classroom, I would teach my students not only about English and communications, but how this subject relates to art, integrity, passion, and how these qualities would help them exceed in all areas of life. Furthermore, in his piece I Just Wanna Be Average Mike Rose acknowledges “it is true that we’ve created an educational system that encourages our best and brightest to become cynical grade collectors and, in general, have developed an obsession with evaluation and assessment.” I would strive to show my students the power of knowledge and the endless positive ramifications their dedication could have not only on their grades, but their lives.

            Taming a wild classroom is no easy feat, and many teachers would run with their tail between their legs if presented with this task. However I truly believe that if I were a teacher I could successfully turn the chaos into a productive learning environment, As discussed, I would do this through the use of inspiration, a firm hard, realistically high expectations and entrancing curriculum. However what all of these tactics boil down to is as simple as respect. A classroom with respect would imply that the teacher takes interest in each of his students, understands and cares about their own needs and wants, and that the students themselves are eager to listen and learn. In my classroom, respect would be the first lesson.

 Works Cited

Lewis., C.S. BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web.

<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/cslewis115363.html>.

Waiting for ‘Superman’. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Lesley Chilcott, 2020. DVD.

(quote; ‘dropout factories, no more than sixty percent of freshmen make it to senior year.’)

Lorde Audre. “From Zami: A New Spelling of My Name.” Trumansburg, NY Crossing,

Random House Digital, Inc.. Jan 1,1982 Print

Rose, Mike. Phd. “I Just Wanna Be Average” (n.d.): n. pag. English 122-35&37 – Writing

about Community Colleges Today. Web 15 Nov. 2012

            <htttp:www.middlesexcc.edu/faculty/Robert_Roth/rosetext.htm>

Freire, Paulo. “The Banking Concept of Education.” Pedagogy of the Oppreseed. New

York: Continuum 1986. Print.

Boyce, Barry. "A Real Education." Shambhala Sun. N.p., May 2012. Web.

<http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3856&Itemid=0>.

VERY ROUGH, ROUGH DRAFT OF PAPER #3

I completely lost my first draft, so this is my second attempt written in about ten minutes, please don't judge.

Sydney Mitchell

Sonia Begert

English 101

3 December 2012

            Imagine a room plagued by chaos; swear words vandalizing your ears, children screaming and running throughout, desks and chairs strewn along the floor, the students blissfully oblivious to the fact that they are being utterly disrespectful to the authority figure standing timidly by the door.  Now take a moment and replace that image with an orderly classroom, occupied by students eager to learn, their attention directed solely at the teacher who is standing at the head of the class. What is the difference between these two scenarios, you ask? There is a certain component missing, a key ingredient; mutual respect. Regardless of the age of the students or the subject being taught, the component that is most necessary in a classroom is respect. Respect, as a give-and-take entity, enables the teacher to capture the students’ full attention and interest while still enabling the students to explore their creativity and grow as individuals, learning in a way that speaks to them. Unfortunately respect can be difficult to cultivate in an unruly classroom. If I was given the responsibility to create and maintain respect in a classroom I would get their attention, present myself as an unwavering authority, raise the bar for my students, and strive to teach them material that they would not only enjoy but also use in daily life.

            Methods of cultivating respect will vary depending on the age of the students and the subject at hand, so let us first set the classroom so that we can then mold our tactics around the situation. If I were to teach I would choose to be a tenth grade English Communications teacher, because as C.S. Lewis so eloquently put it, “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides, and in this respect it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” As Bryce Boyce said it in his essay A Real Education, attention is one of the greatest challenges for children, and perhaps only more so in a world offering so much distraction so frequently.” Therefore, we must come up with some attention-grabbing, jaw-dropping antic to effectively gain and maintain their intention. (insert crazy, first-day-of-class activity to get attention.)

            Secondly, I would stick to my word and whether I made promises of reward or consequence, I would be sure to implement those actions. By standing my ground and staying true to my pre-discussed arrangements, the students would recognize that I held to my word with the utmost dedication. (Insert source from Banking Education) Granted, there must be a balance somewhere in the middle of the spectrum ranging from dictatorial asshole to complete pushover. Yet if we can achieve that balance with these methods, then we are already well on our way to acquiring the respect of students, because they will respect discipline, just as they will appreciate reward.

            How can we scoff at our students’ plummeting grades and their lack of self-motivation to raise their scores if we as teachers do not expect better of them? Often it seems that teachers allow their students to scrape by in class, putting forth the bare minimum of effort and allowing excuses for what is best described as sheer lack of discipline. If we raise the bar of expectations, the students will quite naturally rise to it, or at least make more of an effort to do so.

            However above all else, I believe that it is of the utmost important to avoid the droning, monotonous materials that are taught solely for the sake of excelling at a standardized test. In my classroom, I would teach my students not only about English and communications, but also about art, integrity, passion, and how these qualities would help them exceed in all areas of life. (I wrote a lot about this inspiration and how a good teacher will make his students love a subject regardless of their predetermined like or dislike for it in my first paper, so I will pull from that.)

            CONCLUSION TBD

           

  “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me, all I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” This brilliant quote was coined by Jackie Robinsons, the first African American baseball player of the modern era. Just as Jackie had to overcome

Resolutions on Education...Wrapping Things Up

Mike Rose's resolutions resemble, in ironic fashion, the tendencies of New Year’s resolutions...you go a few weeks, heck maybe even a few months, remaining steadfast and persistent and dedicated to your resolution...and then you begin to slowly slip into your old routines and suddenly whoosh, your resolutions have been thrown out of a three-story window and crash to the ground in an unsuccessful heap.

This comparison is only viable because Rose’s list of resolutions was made in 2010 in hopes of a better 2011…but at this point in time we are creeping up on the year 2013, and it is clear that none of the resolutions held strong, otherwise we would be looking at a vastly different educational system.

            However taken out of the time period, the ideas themselves are highly synonymous with those of Lewis Black. Particularly resolution #2 - questioning what “achievement” should mean in a democratic society, getting a higher rank in international comparisons or perhaps…something more? Rose also shares the beliefs of Freire as made evident in resolution #4 – to stop making the standardized test scores the gold-standard of achievement!
            Maybe if we gathered Freire, Rose, and Black in a room and held a conference for the sake of bettering education, we could actually get things moving and changing for the better.

John Taylor Gatto....my hat is off to you, sir. For you have managed to put into words my true regards for education and the schooling system, the corrupt, useless, failing body that it is...

This essay was brilliantly written, wonderfully supported, and all-together captivating. I agree wholeheartedly with Gatto’s philosophy. He states the public schooling, which has been in practice for roughly a century, has six main functions:

1.      Adjustive …destroys the idea that useful/interesting material should be taught

2.      Integrating …makes children as alike as possible

3.      Directive…logs evidence mathematically and anecdotally on your permanent record.

4.      Differentiating…sorted and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits (not exactly rising to full potential)

5.      Selective…establishes the pecking order

6.      Propaedeutic…teaches a small group to manage the continuation of the societal system and how to continue cultivating a population that is deliberately dumbed down

NONE OF THESE “FUNCTIONS” ARE DOING ANY GOOD!!!

Gatto said that the solution is “simple and glorious; to let them manage themselves.” Amen, brother. As someone who was able to bypass the drama of high school and shrink five years of what would have been time wasted sitting in a classroom into just two years jam-packed with useful information and skills, I love the idea of allowing kids to learn at their own pace, have a say in their curriculum, and be forced to hold themselves to a higher standard! I am certainly ‘against school’….are you?

"You Can Silence My Voice But Never My Spirit"

The Mexican American Studies (MAS) program in Arizona was a booming success, an anomaly within the No Child Left Behind era, the Tucson Unified School District, and the state of Arizona itself. With a fifty percent increase from the national high school graduation average of 44% (that’s a 94% graduation rate, for any of you who have trouble with math – an incredible feat), and a 70% percent college enrolment rate compared to just 24% nationally, the success of the MAS is undeniable. However the success frightened people. As Deb, the author of the article, so eloquently put it, “Young people being empowered is scary to many people, institutions and establishments.”

The very idea that these students were becoming capable of so much robbed “institutions and establishments” of their security and confidence…and they didn’t like that one bit. It wasn’t what the MAS was doing that was causing this uncertainty…it was who they were. It saddens me that school authorities/boards are so insecure that they would shut down such a successful program because of its success. Not to mention the fact that it is “frustrating to see someone who doesn’t have a background in education setting education policy.” They cannot be trusted to make good decisions for school programs.

At this point, our only hope for the MAS program lies in the perseverance of these bright students themselves.

How Does Art Impact Students?

When I think of art, I imagine abstract finger paintings, swatches of canvas dripping with watercolors, paper covered in erratic scribbles, and of course the ever-baffling “modern art”. However after reading Keith Gilyard’s article Children, Arts, and Du Bois,  I understand that art is not something that always takes place on a canvas. Art is anything that involves an element of creativity and ingenuity that goes beyond the norm and pushes boundaries. Art is speaking, art is writing, art is poetry, art is singing and dancing and loving and thriving and learning…art is LIFE.

            Art is hugely beneficial to students because it allows them to be unabashedly, daringly creative; art gets you thinking and moving. It stimulates the brain and gives students the courage and confidence necessary to take that creativity into all subjects. Math, science, English, history; these subjects can be horrifically boring, or, you can be inventive and challenge yourself to look at them in a new light and make them interesting.
            So, is art “good” for students? Absolutely.

"The arts provide a more comprehensive and insightful education because they invite students to explore the emotional, intuitive, and irrational aspects of life that science is hard pressed to explain. " – Charles Fowler

Five Things I Would do to Make a Difference in Education…

Wow…tough question! The educational system is in such a deep rut, the damage done seems nearly irrevocable. As someone with very little credited education in the way of education, I suppose all I have to rely on is my own personal experiences. I am also answering this question with the assumption that there are ample funds and resources available:

1.      Get rid of standardized testing altogether. No good comes from them; they are the antithesis to creativity and innovation, and attempt to conform students inside an intellectual box. Abolishing standardized tests would allow teachers to teach their students actual useful information that they could utilize in real life, as opposed to teaching them useless, mind-numbing material just for the sake of passing a test.

2.      Combine the boards and eliminate the conflicting codes. There are thousands and thousands of school boards throughout the country that remain stubborn in their so-called brave attempts to right the school system. However with so many school boards competing, each of them convinced that THEY have the best ideas, we aren’t getting anywhere. Two heads are better than one, right? I say we work together and create a single board with a few satellite boards to implement the communally created ideas that might actually work. We need to all be on the same page for anything substantial and long-lasting to get done.

3.      No more tenure!!! Tenure allows teachers to practically sleep through class, because after just two years of teaching, teachers are granted immunity. They get paid whether their students learn or not, and that means most teachers take the easy road, grabbing the paycheck and leaving their students to fend for themselves. Tenure is the most FRUSTRATING, SENSELESS, HARMFUL invention. Ever.

4.      Make free tutors available after-hours. Often, teachers flee the school as soon as the clock strikes 3:00 (or whenever school gets out) and high-tail it home, making it nearly impossible for struggling students to get the individual attention they need. Tutors cost money, and private tutoring is not an option for most families. Perhaps if we put a bit of funding towards supplying free tutors for struggling students as opposed to using funds to buy more vending machines filled with candy, students might be doing a bit better.

5.      Raise the bar. We cannot allow our students to be scraping by with C’s, D’s, and F’s. We need to set the bar a bit higher and implement serious consequences for falling grades. If the students have good teachers, tutors, and specialized/individualized education available to them, there is no reason for them to be failing. We need to get not only students, but parents and teachers as well, to understand that students will rise to expectations, so what is the harm in setting them higher?