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.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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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