Abstract:
Promising Futures is a book that was written to help improve the high schools in Maine. People at the Department of Education observed things in Maine's high schools that bothered them. Academic achievement was very uneven from school to school. Students were disengaged from learning. Students didn't feel like they had any input on their education. And the rate of students that were accepted to college, the rate of them finishing was lower then the national average. The state wanted to do something to change this, so they created six core principles that they believe will help students be more successful. Schools which promote a safe, respectful and caring environment, high universal expectations with a variety of learning opportunities, understanding the actions based on assessment data, teacher practice which values and builds upon the contributions and needs of each learner, equitable and democratic practices, and coherence among mission, goals, actions, and outcomes. The book then goes through these six principles as well as other principles in more detail. It explains the rationale of each one and gives an example from a real school.
Reflection:
The one thing that I like best about Promising Futures is that they show within this entire book that everyone has to participate in order to make this work. There are principles involving the teachers, there are principles involving the students, and their are principles involving the administration. This process won't work unless everyone is involved. The entire school needs to change.
One of my favorite principles was the one that says that students and teachers belong to teams within the school that provides each student continuous personal and academic attention and a supportive environment for learning and growth. I can not say how much I love teams within schools. It makes things so much easier. The teams of teachers get to know each other better and they can collaborate on units. The book also made a good point that if a student is having a problem with a teacher or a student, then the student has someone they can go with for help on how to solve the issue.
The other principle that I liked was the one that said every teacher has sufficient time and resources to learn, to plan, and to confer with individual students, colleagues, and families. Teams don't work unless they have the time to get together to meet. But it's also great for students. They can use time to meet with teachers to get extra help or make up for assignments that they missed. Parents can be given these times too so they know what time is the best for calling teachers.
At the end of Promising Futures, they have a section labeled "Practices to Consider Phasing Out." And this section has 19 things that schools should avoid doing. I think it's a helpful thing because schools can check easily to see if they're doing the things that are on this list.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Theories of Philosophy
Abstract:
Perennialism - Perennialism focuses foremost on the everlasting importance of human beings. And since everything else changes in life, perennialists focus on personal development. Facts can change, but principles can't. This is a teacher-centered theory that teaches principles and scientific reasoning. Teaching methods are similar to essentialism, they include lecture, memorization, and examinations.
Essentialism - Essentialism is a mixture between idealism and realism. It stresses that everyone needs to know basic core information to be a productive member of society. But this core information changes with time and with different societies. The goal of all essentialists is to produce good citizens, so this is why they stress subjects like literature, history, language, and religion. Teaching methods are minimal and include lecture, memorization, and examinations.
Behaviorism - Behaviorism is closely linked to realism. People who believe in this think that all behaviors can be explained as responses to a stimuli and that behaviors represent the essence of an individual. One's behavior is determined by their environment, so the school environment for children need to be organized and the curriculum needs to be structured. Teachers who are behaviorists use both positive and negative reinforcers. Students are praised and get good grades when they do good things, and are reprimanded and get bad grades when they do poorly.
Positivism - Positivism is limited to known truth and knowledge that is observable and measurable. A lot of scientists and mathematicians are positivists because it is based on logics of the world. Positivists require schools to have set standards for students but also encourage students to develop their own skills of observation, classification, and analysis. Teachers decide what students should learn, but they teach it in different ways. It is the teacher's job to make sure the students learn the information, can recite the information, and can retain the information.
Progressivism - Progressivism is a theory that believes learning takes place from the questions developed by the learner. The learner's ideas should be tested by experimentation. Progressivism is the most popular in the United States. It emphasizes learning how to think, rather then what to think. Flexibility is very important in a progressive classroom. Classrooms should also have organized freedom, where everyone takes part in the decision-making. Progressivism views the learning as an experiencing, thinking, exploring individual.
Humanism - Humanism is closely related to existentialism and is concerned with enhancing the goodness of the individual. Therefore students are encouraged to make their own decisions and choices. They get to make the classroom rules and also get to decide what books are going to be read in class. Teachers use non-traditional ideas like individualizing instruction, open-access curriculum, non-graded instruction, and multi-age grouping. Humanists created the schools without walls that were popular in the 70's.
Reconstructivism - Reconstructivism focuses on democratic values, because students are the future generation that is going to shape society. Reconstructivists focus on community based learning because students are going to have to work together in society. They want to improve human conditions by focusing on real problems. Teachers want their students to gain experience so they are well prepared when they enter society.
Constructivism - Constructivism is also related to existentialism emphasizes hands-on and activity-based learning. The curriculum is based on big ideas rather then the memorization of factual information. Students learn by shaping their own understandings about the world around them. Instead of leading students to the right answer, constructivists encourage students to think on their own, even if it is in the wrong direction. Teachers use short activities called hooks to engage the students into the lesson, but the teachers main job is to act as a guide or coach in the learning process.
Reflection:
The two theories that best fit my theory of philosophy are Positivism and Constructivism. They are kind of opposites - positivism is a teacher-based approach and constructivism is a student-based approach to learning. But I believe that there should be a combination of the two. The teacher needs to create some activities because standards need to be met, but sometimes the students need to be able to make decisions for themselves. I think it's good for a classroom to have both.
I believe the same is true for the curriculum. Especially in math, there are things that students need to have memorized. For example, students should know their multiplication tables and the order of operations by heart. That's the positivism point of view. But at the same time, it's difficult for math teachers to cover everything their supposed to in one year - that's why it's good to cover the big ideas. If students know and understand how to use the big ideas, they can use their knowledge to figure out different problems. This is the constructivism point of view. They seem like opposites, but when brought together positivism and constructivism work nicely together.
A positivist teacher sets clear standards so students know exactly what they need to learn within a lesson. The students have clear expectations, which a lot of students like to have. But these clear standards can be boring for students. This is where the constructivism part comes in. A constructivist teacher creates hooks for lessons, that engages the students so they're excited to learn. Usually hooks incorporate real life situations which students love because they need to see the relevance in things. I think that my personal teaching style is a mixture of a positivist teacher and a constructivist teacher.
Perennialism - Perennialism focuses foremost on the everlasting importance of human beings. And since everything else changes in life, perennialists focus on personal development. Facts can change, but principles can't. This is a teacher-centered theory that teaches principles and scientific reasoning. Teaching methods are similar to essentialism, they include lecture, memorization, and examinations.
Essentialism - Essentialism is a mixture between idealism and realism. It stresses that everyone needs to know basic core information to be a productive member of society. But this core information changes with time and with different societies. The goal of all essentialists is to produce good citizens, so this is why they stress subjects like literature, history, language, and religion. Teaching methods are minimal and include lecture, memorization, and examinations.
Behaviorism - Behaviorism is closely linked to realism. People who believe in this think that all behaviors can be explained as responses to a stimuli and that behaviors represent the essence of an individual. One's behavior is determined by their environment, so the school environment for children need to be organized and the curriculum needs to be structured. Teachers who are behaviorists use both positive and negative reinforcers. Students are praised and get good grades when they do good things, and are reprimanded and get bad grades when they do poorly.
Positivism - Positivism is limited to known truth and knowledge that is observable and measurable. A lot of scientists and mathematicians are positivists because it is based on logics of the world. Positivists require schools to have set standards for students but also encourage students to develop their own skills of observation, classification, and analysis. Teachers decide what students should learn, but they teach it in different ways. It is the teacher's job to make sure the students learn the information, can recite the information, and can retain the information.
Progressivism - Progressivism is a theory that believes learning takes place from the questions developed by the learner. The learner's ideas should be tested by experimentation. Progressivism is the most popular in the United States. It emphasizes learning how to think, rather then what to think. Flexibility is very important in a progressive classroom. Classrooms should also have organized freedom, where everyone takes part in the decision-making. Progressivism views the learning as an experiencing, thinking, exploring individual.
Humanism - Humanism is closely related to existentialism and is concerned with enhancing the goodness of the individual. Therefore students are encouraged to make their own decisions and choices. They get to make the classroom rules and also get to decide what books are going to be read in class. Teachers use non-traditional ideas like individualizing instruction, open-access curriculum, non-graded instruction, and multi-age grouping. Humanists created the schools without walls that were popular in the 70's.
Reconstructivism - Reconstructivism focuses on democratic values, because students are the future generation that is going to shape society. Reconstructivists focus on community based learning because students are going to have to work together in society. They want to improve human conditions by focusing on real problems. Teachers want their students to gain experience so they are well prepared when they enter society.
Constructivism - Constructivism is also related to existentialism emphasizes hands-on and activity-based learning. The curriculum is based on big ideas rather then the memorization of factual information. Students learn by shaping their own understandings about the world around them. Instead of leading students to the right answer, constructivists encourage students to think on their own, even if it is in the wrong direction. Teachers use short activities called hooks to engage the students into the lesson, but the teachers main job is to act as a guide or coach in the learning process.
Reflection:
The two theories that best fit my theory of philosophy are Positivism and Constructivism. They are kind of opposites - positivism is a teacher-based approach and constructivism is a student-based approach to learning. But I believe that there should be a combination of the two. The teacher needs to create some activities because standards need to be met, but sometimes the students need to be able to make decisions for themselves. I think it's good for a classroom to have both.
I believe the same is true for the curriculum. Especially in math, there are things that students need to have memorized. For example, students should know their multiplication tables and the order of operations by heart. That's the positivism point of view. But at the same time, it's difficult for math teachers to cover everything their supposed to in one year - that's why it's good to cover the big ideas. If students know and understand how to use the big ideas, they can use their knowledge to figure out different problems. This is the constructivism point of view. They seem like opposites, but when brought together positivism and constructivism work nicely together.
A positivist teacher sets clear standards so students know exactly what they need to learn within a lesson. The students have clear expectations, which a lot of students like to have. But these clear standards can be boring for students. This is where the constructivism part comes in. A constructivist teacher creates hooks for lessons, that engages the students so they're excited to learn. Usually hooks incorporate real life situations which students love because they need to see the relevance in things. I think that my personal teaching style is a mixture of a positivist teacher and a constructivist teacher.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
TWYH - pg.228-265
Abstract:
After the loss of Erin's campaign, she was put into serious debt. The voice recording alone cost her $20,000 and Erin wasn't making much money at this point. At this same time one of the Freedom Writers, Tony, was beaten badly and left for dead. He was doing well in life and because of this he lost his job, his car, and had to drop out of school. Tony didn't let any of this phase him, he just moved on with his life the best he could. Tony helped Erin move on with her campaign loss, and she started to speak at different locations about the Freedom Writers. She started speaking to get out of debt, but Erin enjoyed telling people about their story. She started speaking all around the United States and even spoke after Rudy Giuliani. A successful businessman with lots of money, Ric Kayne, asked Erin if she could replicate her success with the Freedom Writers at a national level. Erin didn't think she could do this without her students' help, so she asked Mr. Kayne to provide scholarships to them so they could replicate Room 203 together.
Around this time, Erin was asked about turning the story about the Freedom Writers into a movie. She met with the screenwriter who wrote Erin Brockovich and he started writing the script. Before he could finish writing the script to the movie, something very tragic happened to Erin. Her father, who was her biggest supporter throughout this whole book, had a heart attack and died. Erin got the news right before she left to make a speak somewhere on the border of Canada. She stayed on the plane and continued with her plans because that's what her dad would have wanted her to do. Her father passed away before the Freedom Writers movie came out, so when it finally came out Erin and the Freedom Writers went back to the same movie theater that Erin and her dad brought them to before. Instead of people giving them weird looks and clutching their purses, everyone embraced the students. It was a touching moment for everyone who was involved.
Reflection:
I feel like for the first time in this book, Erin finally had things in her life under control. She was spreading the Freedom Writers' story all over the United States, but she didn't seem to be as much of a workaholic as before. She was asked to run for Congress again and she actually turned down the offer. I feel like Erin has grown throughout this book, and the old Erin wouldn't have been able to say no, but the new Erin could. She finally decided that she couldn't do everything, and decided to focus on the movie that was being released and making more speeches about the Freedom Writers. I think the movie being released made Erin feel like she finally made a difference. Not only did many of her students improve their lives by getting an education, but now everyone knew their story and what they went through to achieve that success.
Erin's story is an amazing story of how one teacher made a difference in the lives of 150 students. But I definitely don't want to do what Erin did. She lost so much because of her devotion to her students, and I don't feel that it was worth it. Teachers need to think of themselves and their own families before their students. It's a difficult thing to do, but not all of us can be like Erin. Once the year is done with your students, you just need to let them go and not hang on to them forever. This book gave me another perspective of teaching and what happens when you become a workaholic and over attached to your students.
After the loss of Erin's campaign, she was put into serious debt. The voice recording alone cost her $20,000 and Erin wasn't making much money at this point. At this same time one of the Freedom Writers, Tony, was beaten badly and left for dead. He was doing well in life and because of this he lost his job, his car, and had to drop out of school. Tony didn't let any of this phase him, he just moved on with his life the best he could. Tony helped Erin move on with her campaign loss, and she started to speak at different locations about the Freedom Writers. She started speaking to get out of debt, but Erin enjoyed telling people about their story. She started speaking all around the United States and even spoke after Rudy Giuliani. A successful businessman with lots of money, Ric Kayne, asked Erin if she could replicate her success with the Freedom Writers at a national level. Erin didn't think she could do this without her students' help, so she asked Mr. Kayne to provide scholarships to them so they could replicate Room 203 together.
Around this time, Erin was asked about turning the story about the Freedom Writers into a movie. She met with the screenwriter who wrote Erin Brockovich and he started writing the script. Before he could finish writing the script to the movie, something very tragic happened to Erin. Her father, who was her biggest supporter throughout this whole book, had a heart attack and died. Erin got the news right before she left to make a speak somewhere on the border of Canada. She stayed on the plane and continued with her plans because that's what her dad would have wanted her to do. Her father passed away before the Freedom Writers movie came out, so when it finally came out Erin and the Freedom Writers went back to the same movie theater that Erin and her dad brought them to before. Instead of people giving them weird looks and clutching their purses, everyone embraced the students. It was a touching moment for everyone who was involved.
Reflection:
I feel like for the first time in this book, Erin finally had things in her life under control. She was spreading the Freedom Writers' story all over the United States, but she didn't seem to be as much of a workaholic as before. She was asked to run for Congress again and she actually turned down the offer. I feel like Erin has grown throughout this book, and the old Erin wouldn't have been able to say no, but the new Erin could. She finally decided that she couldn't do everything, and decided to focus on the movie that was being released and making more speeches about the Freedom Writers. I think the movie being released made Erin feel like she finally made a difference. Not only did many of her students improve their lives by getting an education, but now everyone knew their story and what they went through to achieve that success.
Erin's story is an amazing story of how one teacher made a difference in the lives of 150 students. But I definitely don't want to do what Erin did. She lost so much because of her devotion to her students, and I don't feel that it was worth it. Teachers need to think of themselves and their own families before their students. It's a difficult thing to do, but not all of us can be like Erin. Once the year is done with your students, you just need to let them go and not hang on to them forever. This book gave me another perspective of teaching and what happens when you become a workaholic and over attached to your students.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The 4 Philosophies
Abstract:
The four philosophies are idealism, realism, pragmatism, and existentialism.
The purpose of school for an idealist is to provide students with an educational environment that will help them expand on their ideas. Idealists believe that schools need to help prepare students to be a beneficial member of society. Students should focus on literature, philosophy, politics, history, and the arts. They are encouraged to study and most importantly reflect on their subjects. Reflection is a big part of the preferred methods of instruction, along with lecture and discussion.
Realists believe that the purpose of school is to help students understand the causes of things and to teach them intellectual and moral virtue. They focus on subjects such as mathematics, science, language, literature, and history. Realists like a lot of variety of teaching methods and believe that even the teacher is considered a learner. Students need to know how to think clearly and understand the world.
The purpose of school according to pragmatism is to model a democratic society. They focus on subjects like history, geography, and the sciences because that's the most relevant in society. Pragmatics want to understand humans and why they do the things they do in social situations. The instruction is very hands-on and deals with a lot of experiments. Students are seen as more adult-like, and are capable of setting their own goals for their learning. The teacher is expected to model the type of knowledge they want the students to have, which is experimental knowledge.
Existentialism deals a lot with the freedom of choice, so school for an existentialist is supposed to show students how to take responsibility for their own actions and deal with the consequences of their actions. It focuses on the individual student and their own personal learning. Each student is unique and is capable of making their own choices. Teachers are expected to help their students achieve their own personal potential by being a good role model to them.
Reflection:
None of these four philosophies really jumped out at me as my own philosophy, but I think that realism was the one that I agreed with the most. I liked what realism said about the nature of the learner and the nature of the teacher. I believe strongly that throughout our lives that we never stop learning. Teachers can learn a lot from their students, and they have to be open to the idea that their students can be smarter then them at some stuff. To a realist, the teacher's job is to teach their students how to think clearly so that they are able to understand things in the world. Realists believe that theoretical subjects like math and science are more important then the arts, which I don't agree with. Math and science are very important in school, but so are the arts. I don't like it when art and music programs are the first things cut whenever a school needs to cut out something. Realists also believe that schools should help students find the causes of how things work. I think that students need to know how to find out causes of things, but schools also need to help students grow as individuals so they can be productive members of society. So overall I agree with what realists believe in, but I think there are more things that are important.
The four philosophies are idealism, realism, pragmatism, and existentialism.
The purpose of school for an idealist is to provide students with an educational environment that will help them expand on their ideas. Idealists believe that schools need to help prepare students to be a beneficial member of society. Students should focus on literature, philosophy, politics, history, and the arts. They are encouraged to study and most importantly reflect on their subjects. Reflection is a big part of the preferred methods of instruction, along with lecture and discussion.
Realists believe that the purpose of school is to help students understand the causes of things and to teach them intellectual and moral virtue. They focus on subjects such as mathematics, science, language, literature, and history. Realists like a lot of variety of teaching methods and believe that even the teacher is considered a learner. Students need to know how to think clearly and understand the world.
The purpose of school according to pragmatism is to model a democratic society. They focus on subjects like history, geography, and the sciences because that's the most relevant in society. Pragmatics want to understand humans and why they do the things they do in social situations. The instruction is very hands-on and deals with a lot of experiments. Students are seen as more adult-like, and are capable of setting their own goals for their learning. The teacher is expected to model the type of knowledge they want the students to have, which is experimental knowledge.
Existentialism deals a lot with the freedom of choice, so school for an existentialist is supposed to show students how to take responsibility for their own actions and deal with the consequences of their actions. It focuses on the individual student and their own personal learning. Each student is unique and is capable of making their own choices. Teachers are expected to help their students achieve their own personal potential by being a good role model to them.
Reflection:
None of these four philosophies really jumped out at me as my own philosophy, but I think that realism was the one that I agreed with the most. I liked what realism said about the nature of the learner and the nature of the teacher. I believe strongly that throughout our lives that we never stop learning. Teachers can learn a lot from their students, and they have to be open to the idea that their students can be smarter then them at some stuff. To a realist, the teacher's job is to teach their students how to think clearly so that they are able to understand things in the world. Realists believe that theoretical subjects like math and science are more important then the arts, which I don't agree with. Math and science are very important in school, but so are the arts. I don't like it when art and music programs are the first things cut whenever a school needs to cut out something. Realists also believe that schools should help students find the causes of how things work. I think that students need to know how to find out causes of things, but schools also need to help students grow as individuals so they can be productive members of society. So overall I agree with what realists believe in, but I think there are more things that are important.
Tracking - Justin and Chrissy
I'll start off talking about the paper. Great job - it tells the reader what tracking is, how the tracks are used in schools, and how it affects the students. I especially like how you wrote that teachers are affected by tracking too. Students who are in the lower tracks feel dumb, but the teachers can feel dumb too. They can feel like the school doesn't trust them to teach the higher track students because they're not as good as the other teachers. Bottom point is that tracking affects everyone involved, usually in a negative way. Especially kids who are tracked according to different factors other then their academic level. It was good that you brought up how kids are tracked by other factors, such as race or socioeconomic status. It's horrible and shouldn't be tolerated in schools these days. And as you pointed out in your paper, some schools are trying to eliminate tracking all together so that every student can be successful.
I love how you started your presentation off with a video clip from Freedom Writers. It was a great video because not only does it relate to tracking but it also relates to the book that all of us are reading. Everyone could make a connection to it. One thing that I think could have improved your presentation was the amount of lecturing involved. There were a couple times where I was tired of listening and wanted to do something else. I like that you added charts to your powerpoint, but some of them were confusing to read and I didn't understand the point that you were trying to show. I liked the website you showed though, it had a lot of good stuff about the school who eliminated tracking. I didn't really know what I was supposed to be looking at on the website though, so I needed a little bit more of an explanation. But it was great that you allowed us to explore it on our owns instead of just watching you guys.
After your presentation, I had a lot of questions about what we do as teachers about tracking. What happens if we get hired by a school where there's tracking? What can teachers do to eliminate tracking without stepping on people's toes and making others in the school mad? Is it something that first year teachers should just ignore and wait until they've been there for awhile? And maybe we won't be able to answer these questions until we've been put into a situation like this.
I love how you started your presentation off with a video clip from Freedom Writers. It was a great video because not only does it relate to tracking but it also relates to the book that all of us are reading. Everyone could make a connection to it. One thing that I think could have improved your presentation was the amount of lecturing involved. There were a couple times where I was tired of listening and wanted to do something else. I like that you added charts to your powerpoint, but some of them were confusing to read and I didn't understand the point that you were trying to show. I liked the website you showed though, it had a lot of good stuff about the school who eliminated tracking. I didn't really know what I was supposed to be looking at on the website though, so I needed a little bit more of an explanation. But it was great that you allowed us to explore it on our owns instead of just watching you guys.
After your presentation, I had a lot of questions about what we do as teachers about tracking. What happens if we get hired by a school where there's tracking? What can teachers do to eliminate tracking without stepping on people's toes and making others in the school mad? Is it something that first year teachers should just ignore and wait until they've been there for awhile? And maybe we won't be able to answer these questions until we've been put into a situation like this.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
TWYH - pg. 177-227
Abstract:
This section of the book starts out during the later half of the students' senior year. Tensions were rising with the students because among the Freedom Writers, certain students were being singled out and getting more attention. During this same time, they won the Spirit of Anne Frank Award where only 45 students could go to New York City to accept the award. This also caused more tension between Erin and the other teachers, because yet again she was going across the country with her students and being recognized. Erin also had a Primetime Live segment on her and her class air on TV, which got a lot of attention outside the school.
After graduation, Erin decided to take a job at California State University. She still continued to see her students and decided to take about 50 of them on a trip to Europe. They weren't able to raise all the money, so Erin again went to John Tu for financial help. And yet again he gave her money, this time it was $250,000. These aren't even her students anymore, and she's still spending so much time with them and doing things for them. After the trip, Erin was still promoting the book and was on different shows like Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah. And apparently she didn't think she was busy enough, because she decided to run for Congress. This caught me completely off guard, I had no idea she was even interested in politics. The Freedom Writers helped her campaign, but in actuality they might have lost it for her. Erin was juggling both her campaign and her students, and her students were her top priority.
Reflection:
I was kind of disappointed in Erin for leaving Wilson High. I felt like she did it because of her students, they weren't going to be there next year and she didn't want to start a school year without them. She said in the book that she wanted them to "spread their wings and leave the coop" and I thought for a moment that she was going to let them go on their own, but nope. Erin thinks of her students as family at this point. I mean she organized a 19 day trip to Europe for 50 students! It cost over $250,000! And then when she decided to run for Congress I thought she was trying to do something else besides hanging out with her students. Even though I was surprised she decided to run for Congress, at least it didn't have to do with her students or teaching. It's hard for Erin to relax and not do anything because she's been a workaholic for like 5 years now. But she didn't give up her students, instead she encouraged them to help her in her campaign. While I was reading, it didn't seem to me that Erin even wanted to campaign and she was unhappy doing it. She didn't want to help raise money because she didn't want to ask people for money, which made no sense to me because she asked for money all the time when she was a teacher. And she didn't want to put people down, but she used to put down all the other teachers that she worked with. I'm glad that she lost the election because it didn't seem that she was passionate about it. She's obviously passionate about her students, she just needs to be passionate about teaching her current college students.
This section of the book starts out during the later half of the students' senior year. Tensions were rising with the students because among the Freedom Writers, certain students were being singled out and getting more attention. During this same time, they won the Spirit of Anne Frank Award where only 45 students could go to New York City to accept the award. This also caused more tension between Erin and the other teachers, because yet again she was going across the country with her students and being recognized. Erin also had a Primetime Live segment on her and her class air on TV, which got a lot of attention outside the school.
After graduation, Erin decided to take a job at California State University. She still continued to see her students and decided to take about 50 of them on a trip to Europe. They weren't able to raise all the money, so Erin again went to John Tu for financial help. And yet again he gave her money, this time it was $250,000. These aren't even her students anymore, and she's still spending so much time with them and doing things for them. After the trip, Erin was still promoting the book and was on different shows like Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah. And apparently she didn't think she was busy enough, because she decided to run for Congress. This caught me completely off guard, I had no idea she was even interested in politics. The Freedom Writers helped her campaign, but in actuality they might have lost it for her. Erin was juggling both her campaign and her students, and her students were her top priority.
Reflection:
I was kind of disappointed in Erin for leaving Wilson High. I felt like she did it because of her students, they weren't going to be there next year and she didn't want to start a school year without them. She said in the book that she wanted them to "spread their wings and leave the coop" and I thought for a moment that she was going to let them go on their own, but nope. Erin thinks of her students as family at this point. I mean she organized a 19 day trip to Europe for 50 students! It cost over $250,000! And then when she decided to run for Congress I thought she was trying to do something else besides hanging out with her students. Even though I was surprised she decided to run for Congress, at least it didn't have to do with her students or teaching. It's hard for Erin to relax and not do anything because she's been a workaholic for like 5 years now. But she didn't give up her students, instead she encouraged them to help her in her campaign. While I was reading, it didn't seem to me that Erin even wanted to campaign and she was unhappy doing it. She didn't want to help raise money because she didn't want to ask people for money, which made no sense to me because she asked for money all the time when she was a teacher. And she didn't want to put people down, but she used to put down all the other teachers that she worked with. I'm glad that she lost the election because it didn't seem that she was passionate about it. She's obviously passionate about her students, she just needs to be passionate about teaching her current college students.
PBS Video - Episode 4
This video shows American public education from 1980 to the present. It starts out with the Reagan Administration saying that kids aren't learning as much as they need to when they're in school. I mean they went around interviewing high schoolers and one kid couldn't even tell the interviewer who won the Civil War. That is a problem. Kids were taking easier classes like cooking and wood shop, they weren't challenging themselves with higher level math, history, or English courses. Obviously the schools and teachers weren't pushing students to push themselves.
One solution that they did in East Harlem was to make a competition for schools. Students got to pick which high school they wanted to go to, and if a school was lacking student attendance - it was closed. The different schools focused on different things - one was a dance school, one was a science school, etc. I thought it was a good idea, and it did increase academic achievement, but I don't feel like it was the competition aspect that made it work. Students were more engaged and therefore they were learning more.
Another thing that they used during this time period was vouchers. A voucher is given to a poorer student so they can go to any private school that they want and the government will pay for it. Now how is this increasing the public school system? It's not, they're using money to take away students from the public schools. It would have made a lot more sense to use that money to help improve public schools, since a lot of public schools during this period were falling apart. Some had leaky ceilings, others were overcrowded - this is where that money should have gone to.
Some felt restricted by public schools, and this is when the idea of charter schools came into play. A charter school is a school that receives money from the government, but they have to set a goal for their students. And if the students don't achieve that goal in the time period that was agreed upon, then the school gets shut down. A lot of charter schools focus on a certain field - the arts, mathematics, etc. It's kind of like what they did to the schools in East Harlem, except better because there's not as many restrictions like in a public school.
A big part of this episode was that students need to meet certain standards in public schools. The states were the ones who came up with these standards, and students must meet them every year. And now it's up to the teachers to make sure every student succeeds.
One solution that they did in East Harlem was to make a competition for schools. Students got to pick which high school they wanted to go to, and if a school was lacking student attendance - it was closed. The different schools focused on different things - one was a dance school, one was a science school, etc. I thought it was a good idea, and it did increase academic achievement, but I don't feel like it was the competition aspect that made it work. Students were more engaged and therefore they were learning more.
Another thing that they used during this time period was vouchers. A voucher is given to a poorer student so they can go to any private school that they want and the government will pay for it. Now how is this increasing the public school system? It's not, they're using money to take away students from the public schools. It would have made a lot more sense to use that money to help improve public schools, since a lot of public schools during this period were falling apart. Some had leaky ceilings, others were overcrowded - this is where that money should have gone to.
Some felt restricted by public schools, and this is when the idea of charter schools came into play. A charter school is a school that receives money from the government, but they have to set a goal for their students. And if the students don't achieve that goal in the time period that was agreed upon, then the school gets shut down. A lot of charter schools focus on a certain field - the arts, mathematics, etc. It's kind of like what they did to the schools in East Harlem, except better because there's not as many restrictions like in a public school.
A big part of this episode was that students need to meet certain standards in public schools. The states were the ones who came up with these standards, and students must meet them every year. And now it's up to the teachers to make sure every student succeeds.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
TWYH - pg. 141-176
Abstract:
This section of the book starts out with Erin getting a divorce from her husband. They hadn't been getting along for awhile now, and he didn't even want to go on vacation to Europe with her. He left at the beginning of Erin's students junior year, so it was pretty touch on Erin. One thing that I didn't expect was that Erin's husband was seeing another woman. I don't believe this happened in the movie. Another part of the book that surprised me was that Erin's students found out that her husband was seeing another woman. A couple of her students actually worked at her husband's office with John Tu and saw him kissing the other woman. Her students responded by wanting to either beat him up or trash his car. Because of this, Erin had to come clean with her students that she was getting a divorce.
Another big part of this section of the book was that Erin organized a trip for all of her students, and she has 150, to go to Washington DC on a field trip. They wanted to go give their book to the Secretary of Education. For a lot of Erin's students, this was the first time they left California, stayed in a hotel, and rode on an airplane. It cost a lot of money to send that many people across the country on a field trip, and I'm still not really sure how Erin pulled it off.
Reflection:
"Maybe if I had poured my passion into being the perfect wife instead of the perfect teacher, we'd be admiring the Dutch canals together." After I read this, I just wanted to scream "Why hadn't you thought of this earlier?!" I'm not saying that she had to be the perfect wife, but if she put a quarter of the time she spent on her students into her marriage, they might still be together. I couldn't imagine letting my profession ruin a marriage. But I feel that Erin and her husband getting a divorce is just going to make Erin even more of a workaholic. She's not going to have anyone to go home to, so she's just going to spend even more time with her kids or doing stuff for them. Especially since in this section, we were told that Erin was allowed to teach the same kids for another year, their senior year. I think it's both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. Her kids will learn a lot in her class, but it's also doesn't seem healthy to me.
I can't believe that Erin organized a trip for almost 200 people to travel across the United States to take a field trip to Washington DC. That's crazy! It must have taken so much time to organize everything, and Erin pretty much did it all herself. I mean they had to reserve a whole airplane just for their group. And their hotel bill must have been ridiculous. Erin's students did a lot of fundraising, but John Tu helped out Erin and her kids the most. He also gave them 36 computers for Erin's classroom, which was generous by itself. Erin's students had a blast in Washington DC, and I'm sure it was just as fun watching them in the nation's capitol. It was a once in a lifetime experience for them, and they all knew it.
This section of the book starts out with Erin getting a divorce from her husband. They hadn't been getting along for awhile now, and he didn't even want to go on vacation to Europe with her. He left at the beginning of Erin's students junior year, so it was pretty touch on Erin. One thing that I didn't expect was that Erin's husband was seeing another woman. I don't believe this happened in the movie. Another part of the book that surprised me was that Erin's students found out that her husband was seeing another woman. A couple of her students actually worked at her husband's office with John Tu and saw him kissing the other woman. Her students responded by wanting to either beat him up or trash his car. Because of this, Erin had to come clean with her students that she was getting a divorce.
Another big part of this section of the book was that Erin organized a trip for all of her students, and she has 150, to go to Washington DC on a field trip. They wanted to go give their book to the Secretary of Education. For a lot of Erin's students, this was the first time they left California, stayed in a hotel, and rode on an airplane. It cost a lot of money to send that many people across the country on a field trip, and I'm still not really sure how Erin pulled it off.
Reflection:
"Maybe if I had poured my passion into being the perfect wife instead of the perfect teacher, we'd be admiring the Dutch canals together." After I read this, I just wanted to scream "Why hadn't you thought of this earlier?!" I'm not saying that she had to be the perfect wife, but if she put a quarter of the time she spent on her students into her marriage, they might still be together. I couldn't imagine letting my profession ruin a marriage. But I feel that Erin and her husband getting a divorce is just going to make Erin even more of a workaholic. She's not going to have anyone to go home to, so she's just going to spend even more time with her kids or doing stuff for them. Especially since in this section, we were told that Erin was allowed to teach the same kids for another year, their senior year. I think it's both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. Her kids will learn a lot in her class, but it's also doesn't seem healthy to me.
I can't believe that Erin organized a trip for almost 200 people to travel across the United States to take a field trip to Washington DC. That's crazy! It must have taken so much time to organize everything, and Erin pretty much did it all herself. I mean they had to reserve a whole airplane just for their group. And their hotel bill must have been ridiculous. Erin's students did a lot of fundraising, but John Tu helped out Erin and her kids the most. He also gave them 36 computers for Erin's classroom, which was generous by itself. Erin's students had a blast in Washington DC, and I'm sure it was just as fun watching them in the nation's capitol. It was a once in a lifetime experience for them, and they all knew it.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Article - A Nation At Risk
The article "A Nation At Risk" discusses the decrease in education in the United States. Students aren't learning as much in school as in the past, so they are behind in college, and therefore behind in learning when they enter the real world. A part of why this is happening is because schools aren't requiring a lot from their students in order to graduate. The article recommended a plan - that students need 4 years of English, 3 years of math, science, and social studies, and a half year of computer science. And for students who want to go to college, they should also take 2 years of a foreign language. We should also expect more from our teachers, they should have to meet high standards in order to teach the youth of America.
This article seemed a little outdated to me, the statistics that they gave were from decades ago and I had a hard time relating to it. All of the recommendations that they suggested are in use today. The requirements for a high school diploma were the requirements that were in place when I graduated. Colleges and universities do have standards for letting students in, and they do expect a lot from students once they are enrolled. The recommendations that they article said that aren't being used today is that teachers aren't on an 11 month contract and their salaries aren't being increased. The article also wanted students to be in school more hours per day and more days per year. As long as students are engaged and learning while they're in school, I don't see why they have to stay in school longer.
This article seemed a little outdated to me, the statistics that they gave were from decades ago and I had a hard time relating to it. All of the recommendations that they suggested are in use today. The requirements for a high school diploma were the requirements that were in place when I graduated. Colleges and universities do have standards for letting students in, and they do expect a lot from students once they are enrolled. The recommendations that they article said that aren't being used today is that teachers aren't on an 11 month contract and their salaries aren't being increased. The article also wanted students to be in school more hours per day and more days per year. As long as students are engaged and learning while they're in school, I don't see why they have to stay in school longer.
Monday, October 6, 2008
PBS Video - Episode 1
I think there was a lot of progress in the school system between the years of 1770 - 1890. When schools first started, they were not free and available to the public. It cost money so usually families could only afford to send their youngest child, if they were able to send any. Mainly only the rich went to school, and only boys could go on to further their education. Religion was a big part of students' education.
Finally because of people like Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann, public schools were created. There were some problems because the poorer families still didn't send their children to school, because they needed them to work on the farm. And if they were sent at all, school was used as more of a daycare then for educational purposes. The schools were in bad shape - they were crowded, uncomfortable, and lacking supplies. Students varied in age and the teachers weren't very good. Horace Mann helped change this though. He went around to all the schools and made huge improvements. He made sure schools had textbooks, chairs, and blackboards. Around the same time religion was cut from public schools because of the conflict of what religion should be taught.
When settlers started moving west, there was a demand for teachers to move out west and teach the children there. This is when women teachers became popular because they were the ones who were willing to leave their homes and because they were cheaper to pay then men were. These women were taught about education before they were teachers, so that in itself is a huge improvement.
During this time frame, schools went from only having rich kids to having every socioeconomic status. Kids were staying in school longer, the teachers were better, the schools were better, and there was more textbooks available to students. The only issue that wasn't faced during this period was that not all kids went to school together. Blacks were segregated from schools, and I don't believe that Native Americans went to school at all. But overall I believe that there were more breakthroughs in public education then setbacks.
Finally because of people like Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann, public schools were created. There were some problems because the poorer families still didn't send their children to school, because they needed them to work on the farm. And if they were sent at all, school was used as more of a daycare then for educational purposes. The schools were in bad shape - they were crowded, uncomfortable, and lacking supplies. Students varied in age and the teachers weren't very good. Horace Mann helped change this though. He went around to all the schools and made huge improvements. He made sure schools had textbooks, chairs, and blackboards. Around the same time religion was cut from public schools because of the conflict of what religion should be taught.
When settlers started moving west, there was a demand for teachers to move out west and teach the children there. This is when women teachers became popular because they were the ones who were willing to leave their homes and because they were cheaper to pay then men were. These women were taught about education before they were teachers, so that in itself is a huge improvement.
During this time frame, schools went from only having rich kids to having every socioeconomic status. Kids were staying in school longer, the teachers were better, the schools were better, and there was more textbooks available to students. The only issue that wasn't faced during this period was that not all kids went to school together. Blacks were segregated from schools, and I don't believe that Native Americans went to school at all. But overall I believe that there were more breakthroughs in public education then setbacks.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
TWYH - pg. 104-140
Abstract:
This section of the book starts off with Erin buying them books about the Holocaust because she feels like her students can relate with the death and hard times that Holocaust victims went through. Her students got really into The Diary of Anne Frank, and one of her students, Maria, thought of herself as Anne. I remembered this part from the movie Freedom Writers, when Maria through her book across the room because she was so mad that Anne ended up dying at the end of the book. Maria thought that if Anne died in the book, that she was going to end up dying in the streets. It was a hard moment for Erin, who didn't really have any experience dealing with stuff like this. After finishing the book, another student Darrius found out that Miep Gies, the woman who helped hide Anne and the rest of her family, was still alive today. He wanted to fly her out to California so that everyone could meet her. One part that they didn't show in the book was that in actuality, Miep was already planning on visiting Long Beach, and the only thing Erin had to do was get her to come meet her students when she was already there. It was an exciting thing for them, so when they started reading their next book, Zlata's Diary, her students again wanted Zlata to come and visit them. This visit was a lot harder to plan and pay for, since Zlata was only fifteen years old and wanted her parents and best friend to come. It took Erin a lot of hard work, but she pulled it off once again and Zlata's trip went perfectly. Her students had a blast and were able to bring some of their family members with them.
Reflection:
My main thought after reading this section was I couldn't believe all the things that Erin does for her students. I feel like I'm a good person and would do a lot for my students, but I don't think I would jeopardize relationships with others and work such long hours for them. Erin's relationship with her husband is getting increasingly worse during the book, and she's working so many hours because she bought 4 different books for her students. That is unheard of! She wonders why the other teachers don't like her, but if I had an Erin teaching across the hall from me I probably wouldn't like her either. She's a workaholic and it's going to catch up with her. I know she's doing amazing things with her students, but I feel like she could still do these things without working so much and jeopardizing everything else in her life. With every profession, there has to be a balance between work and play, and Erin doesn't have that balance.
This section of the book starts off with Erin buying them books about the Holocaust because she feels like her students can relate with the death and hard times that Holocaust victims went through. Her students got really into The Diary of Anne Frank, and one of her students, Maria, thought of herself as Anne. I remembered this part from the movie Freedom Writers, when Maria through her book across the room because she was so mad that Anne ended up dying at the end of the book. Maria thought that if Anne died in the book, that she was going to end up dying in the streets. It was a hard moment for Erin, who didn't really have any experience dealing with stuff like this. After finishing the book, another student Darrius found out that Miep Gies, the woman who helped hide Anne and the rest of her family, was still alive today. He wanted to fly her out to California so that everyone could meet her. One part that they didn't show in the book was that in actuality, Miep was already planning on visiting Long Beach, and the only thing Erin had to do was get her to come meet her students when she was already there. It was an exciting thing for them, so when they started reading their next book, Zlata's Diary, her students again wanted Zlata to come and visit them. This visit was a lot harder to plan and pay for, since Zlata was only fifteen years old and wanted her parents and best friend to come. It took Erin a lot of hard work, but she pulled it off once again and Zlata's trip went perfectly. Her students had a blast and were able to bring some of their family members with them.
Reflection:
My main thought after reading this section was I couldn't believe all the things that Erin does for her students. I feel like I'm a good person and would do a lot for my students, but I don't think I would jeopardize relationships with others and work such long hours for them. Erin's relationship with her husband is getting increasingly worse during the book, and she's working so many hours because she bought 4 different books for her students. That is unheard of! She wonders why the other teachers don't like her, but if I had an Erin teaching across the hall from me I probably wouldn't like her either. She's a workaholic and it's going to catch up with her. I know she's doing amazing things with her students, but I feel like she could still do these things without working so much and jeopardizing everything else in her life. With every profession, there has to be a balance between work and play, and Erin doesn't have that balance.
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