What I think about education, or what I would change about it. Would definitely start with education not being graded by simple test scores, I’m not sure that you can grade knowledge and understanding or even readiness to take on the world or to even be a productive part of it for that matter by sitting a child down in front of a piece of paper. I feel that education should be more about creating critical thinkers, teaching students to think for themselves and to stand on their own, independent free thinkers as mentioned in my second paper.

            There are students who graduate high school without the ability to balance a checkbook or manage their own bank account and what about understanding credit reports and scores. I know that much lies on that of the parents but some children were just not given a fair chance in this category (again a draw of the lottery). You can’t always rely on the parents because so many don’t have the knowledge themselves to share. I also agree that students should be taught to understand more about politics and voting.

Group Work

In our group we discussed real life preparation, balancing a checkbook, managing a bank account, understanding the importance of good credit. We talked about understanding politics and the importance of voting, in my opinion the importance of using your own voice which I believe is another skill that we could focus on in k-12.  We also touched on standardized testing.  

Oh Captain My Captain

Karla Zabel

English 101

Dr. Sonia Apgar Begert                       

Formal Term Paper 2 Final
2-22-13

Oh Captain My Captain

        What is the most crucial role a teacher can play in the life of a student? For many it might be to open the questioning minds of their scholars, to draw them in, making them eager for more knowledge. It might make them want to ask why, to question everything, to show them how to constantly look at things in a different way, and to create critical thinkers who don’t believe in something just because it is what they were told. That was the role of Mr. John Keating from the movie, “Dead Poets Society”. It also describes my English teacher Mrs. Rachael Biel.  Mrs. Biel and Mr. Keating believed that the idea of a true education was to learn to think for yourself.

        An important quality that Mrs. Biel and Mr. Keating had in common was their ability to think outside the box. They walked into class each day with the goal of teaching students to do the same. From the first day of class Mrs. Biel’s students knew they were in for a very different experience. She told everyone on the first day of class to follow her outside. She freed us from the compounds of the classroom walls and into what she called the world classroom. She asked us to select something while looking around. We all found something that stood out to us personally. I selected the American flag, as my father was retired from the Navy. One of my classmates selected a church steeple, while another chose a corridor of the building as a symbol of his hopeful Engineering degree. Two smokers selected the student smoking shed.  Mrs. Biel explained that our assignment was to write a poem about the item without supplying too much physical description. Back in the classroom, we were asked to visualize what fellow classmate may have been writing about. It was amazing how everyone thought differently and definitely out of the box!

        As with Mrs. Biel, Mr. Keating wanted his first day to make an impression on the students too. His first day in the classroom caught everyone’s attention. As he walked through the classroom whistling, he instructed his students to follow him into the main entrance where photos and trophies were displayed from the school’s previous students. “Carpe Diem, seize the days boys” he whispered as they gazed at photos of students very much like themselves. “Same haircuts, full of hormones, just like you, and invincible just like you feel.” Mr. Keating chuckled as he told his students that the young men before them were now fertilizing daffodils. He told his students he wanted them to make their lives extraordinary. Mr. Keating handed a student a textbook. The student read, “To the Virgins, to make much of Time. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying: And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying.” The students nodded in understanding of the poems meaning.

         Mrs. Biel and Mr. Keating shared an ability to draw students in and to get them involved with enthusiasm. Even the quietest of students found a new place in the classroom with their classmates. It was tremendous that each teacher had a way of making their students want to go to class and the ability to make their students want to learn. They had a passion for seeing the light of understanding in a student’s eyes that moment of ah ha! There were days when I left class that I couldn’t wait to get home and share with friends and family what new and exciting concept we had just learned. I absolutely loved sharing that I was learning to think for myself and becoming a critical thinker looking at all sides.

        “Pick a character from this painting,” Mrs. Biel instructed the class one day. She requested we pick a character from the painting to write about. We all sat staring at The Dancing Butler wondering what new lesson we were about to learn. The students got caught up in looking at the man, the woman, and the two dancers in the painting. Without really knowing the artist’s interpretation, the many different experiences of the same painting from fellow students really were as different as the students themselves. This compares to Mr. Keating’s thoughts on not just considering what the author thinks but also on what you think.

        One of Mr. Keating’s fascinating class projects to help students think independently takes place outside in their courtyard. He selected three scholars to walk in a big circle in front of the rest of the students. Within a few minutes the three were walking with the same stride while the rest of the class was clapping along to the beat. The experiment to show conformity and the need to be accepted worked! Keating found unique ways to show students how to look at the same things in a different way. They wanted their students to swim against the stream. They wanted their students to learn to think for themselves.

        To add more critical thinking skills to the class experience, Mrs. Biel showed the controversial film, “An Inconvenient Truth”, by Al Gore. She led her class in an open discussion of fact versus fiction. For example, have there been more tornadoes since global warming or is that new radar and satellite technologies are allowing us to see more of them? Are the insurance industries paying out more money to flood and storm victims? This could be true, or is it because more people are building luxurious beach houses right where storms hit? The class was divided into believers and nonbelievers of the video’s truths. This was critical thinking at its best.

        It is not surprising that Mrs. Biel and Mr. Keating had another common trait that makes them outstanding individuals. These two extraordinary teachers share a genuine concern for each individual student. Their students could go to them for support and comfort for any reason from personal problems to world issues. They were truly devoted to the education and wellbeing of their students. Without a doubt, there is no other memory of any other teacher who was so personally invested in the future and the success of each student.      

        Although it was a passion for my role models to help students learn to think for themselves, that was not always the case for those who made the ultimate decisions. Sadly, Mr. Keating was dismissed because the administrators and some of the parents were so stuck in their own narrow minded views of the world, they just could not understand his teaching style. What the teachers and parents did not understand was that he was influenced by self-starters himself at this same school. Mrs. Biel also seemed to come from a mold all of her own, and she never ceased to amaze us with her ability to guide us to a different place other than where we felt most comfortable. I now know we can all learn from this example:  “For the first time in my whole life,” Neil said, “I know what I wanna do! And for the first time, I'm gonna do it whether my father wants me to or not! Carpe diem!”

Paper #2 Exercise

    

           

I.        Role: To open a student’s mind, to make them independent thinkers, critical thinkers and to make them want to learn more on any given subject.

Teacher #1 Rachael Biel- English

Teacher #2 Chris Smith- Humanities

One teacher would be a positive example while the other was a negative example.

Rachael really had a way of making her students question what they heard and even what they were seeing and she made them want to know more about everything.

II.      Body of the paragraph

A.      Rachael was an outstanding role model of an independent thinker.

1.      When going to class we never knew what was in store for us on that particular day. Rachael might have us look at a painting and tell our own story of what the artist might have had in mind, as well as how the painting made us feel when looking at it, and then we would share our thoughts with the class.

2.      Another example could be, sending her class out on a beautiful day to write about something, anything at all without telling our readers what we had chosen. It was up to the class to try and see the topic through different eyes.

3.      A third example…

B.      Rachael was also a critical thinker and questioned each and everything she saw and heard, and she pushed her students to do the same. Rachael enjoyed opening up the minds of her students, allowing them to see things in a different way.

1.       One example, she might show us a controversial film to open a topic of discussion among the class, of course the class would be divided, but that was ok, it made for a very interesting learning environment to see where the other side might be coming from, and to show just how differently the same material could be perceived.

C.      Rachael had a passion for teaching and a way of making us want to learn. There were days that I couldn’t wait to get to class, and days that I couldn’t wait to get home to share what I had learned. 

D.     Chris on the other hand just had a way of making you question him. What he was saying, was it based on fact? Was he even serious? Did it really happen the way that he explained it?

1.      As one student in his class I found that he lacked credibility, I questioned the details of his stories and his explanations, even to the point of looking up certain events for myself just to be sure. Maybe that was his way of instructing me?

2.      Students openly disagreed with Chris, almost to the point of argument. This however, I did find to be a learning experience.

3.      He became rather amusing to many of my classmates; we wondered what he would do or say next but didn’t really feel that we were learning.

E.      I and many of the other students felt that he used his authority as a way of hearing himself speak, he spent more time on personal stories than teaching any curriculum.

1.      We feared that he was not actually preparing us for what we might face in the world.

2.      A good example of this was his giving each of us a chapter in our textbooks and then having us do the presentation for the class on the chapter given; this was his way of instructing us. We felt cheated.

3.      I was also surprised that in a year, he never took the time to know us by my name.

Notes for Mona Lisa Smile 1953

"Kathryn Watson made up in brains what she lacked in pedigree."

An art history teacher (Julia Roberts) fulfills her dream at “Wellesley College” an all-girls college in New England. Her first day is a disaster as her entire class has previously memorized the entire text book.

“What is art, what makes it good or bad, and who decides?”

There is turmoil among the girls when it is discovered that the school nurse is dispensing contraception. Betty (Kirsten Dunst) writes for the college paper and states that the school is promoting promiscuity.

Amanda the school nurse is then let go.

One of Kathryn’s students (Julia Styles) is a straight A prelaw student who is planning on marriage once graduating. Kathryn tells her that she could go to law school and be married and gives her an application to Yale.

At one point Kathryn takes her class to see a Jackson Pollack painting, she requests that they look at it with an open mind and tell her what they see.

The schools administration suggests if she likes teaching there that she spend less time on modern art.

Over Christmas break Kathryn’s boyfriend Paul surprises her with a visit to the school. He proposes marriage, but she is confused about the whole thing and turns him down.

Bill Dunbar an Italian professor tries to end a past affair with Gisele a female student.

After being married, Betty misses six classes, a paper and her midterm she is warned to do the work or she will be failed. Betty tells Kathryn that if she is failed there will be consequences.

Kathryn is invited to an AP party for a game of truth or consequences.

Shortly after Betty prints in the school paper that Kathryn rejects the idea of marriage and influences her students to do the same. “Challenging the roles they were born to fill.”

Betty is finding out that marriage is not all it’s cracked up to be and wants more, her mother is of no support to her.

Kathryn is finding herself attracted to Bill; she ends up spending a night with him.

The student played by Julia Styles is accepted into Yale but turns it down for marriage. Kathryn tries to convince her that she can have both but she is convinced and elopes.

Kathryn finds out that Bill has not always been honest with her about his past.

The school’s administration offers Kathryn another year but there are conditions.

Each of her students makes her a painting for her to remember them by.

Against her mother’s wishes Betty files for divorce and decides to move to Grenage Village with Giselle to attend law school.

Kathryn declines the offer to stay on another year.

Revised Formal Term Paper 1

Karla Zabel

English 101

Dr. Sonia Apgar Begert                       

Formal Term Paper 1

1-31-13

And The Seventh Day Shall be Kept Holy

        I had attended religious schools in the past, but I was fourteen when I was sent away from home. I had a fight with my boyfriend and came home well after curfew. I remember my mom coming up behind me that night screaming, “That’s it! You’re out of here.” There was nothing more to say on the subject; her mind was made up. The very next day she was on the phone making arrangements that would change my life.

        I was on my way to a whole new existence, with a new school, new teachers, new friends and, oh so many new rules. It started with wardrobe. We had to go shopping for appropriate Seventh Day Adventist attire, not a uniform exactly, but it may as well have been. Girls’ shirts had to be at least fingertip in length and four fingers past the collarbone. No shorts or jeans were allowed and absolutely no form fitting pants. Skirts were permitted but had to be past the knee. There was absolutely no jewelry or makeup of any kind allowed. I can remember the tissue test well. If faculty had a suspicion that you may be wearing makeup, they would wipe your face with a white tissue to be sure. There were so many new rules to get used to.

        The day I arrived I was shown to my dorm room and introduced to my new roommate. I would now be living hours from home with a person I had never met. Each room had two twin beds, two desks, and a closet for sharing. You could basically draw a line down the center of the floor—hers and mine. There were 20 rooms in the girls’ dorm with a living room at one end of the hallway and a bathroom with five showers and stalls at the other end. We were completely cut off from the outside world. There was no radio, no television, not even a phone. What a change from the life I once had.

        A fundamental requirement that was announced right away was that worship was promptly from 6:00 to 7:30 every morning in our chapel, and we were expected to be there every day except Saturdays (we’ll talk about Saturdays later). Breakfast was 7:45 to 8:30 and consisted of artificial eggs, soy cheese, milk, and vegetarian sausage, bacon, or ham. Millet or oatmeal were also on the menu. 

I was exhausted after a very hard and confusing first day. That night as I lay in my bed in my new room at a rather bizarre school in a strange town, I slept soundly. At 4:30 the next morning when my alarm went off, I was ready to begin my new life. I forgot that it would not take me so long to get ready without a blow dryer or my makeup, but at least I didn’t have to wait for a shower. By 5:30 the halls were filled with the other girls wearing finger length shirts and long skirts. As they all filed past me preparing for the day, I was wishing I could hide. I wanted to run away, but where would I go? We were in the middle of nowhere and I missed my friends, my family, and everything I used to know.

               My mind was racing that first morning in worship. I felt so alone, but loneliness was interrupted at breakfast when I was introduced to Vickie. She was obviously raised a devout Seventh Day Adventist from birth and would become my go-to girl. Mentoring me was Vickie’s new chore. She was very good at explaining how things worked, my chores, my classes, who was who, and when to be where. Vicky was a plain looking girl but very nice and friendly. She was a senior who carried her bible everywhere and knew each page by heart. I grew to admire her loyalty and devotion, as she was the only friend I had, and I looked up to her.

               My first assigned daily chore was to mop our entire school building from one end to the other (someone must have gotten a promotion). After a tedious job that seemed to take forever, I was off to my classes. The curriculum was the everyday ordinary classes such as math, English, social studies, and science. It was nice that there were only fifteen students in each classroom but odd that boys were on one side and girls were on the other. I thought we all looked so funny in our peculiar clothes and no makeup. As I looked around the classroom, I thought to myself that I would never have been caught in the real world like this.

               Here is another example of a real world adjustment. I don’t think I ever got used to soy cheese and fake meat sandwiches for lunch. After school, we would play soccer or volley ball which sounds pretty normal, but this was Florida, where it is 100 degrees and we played in dress pants and long shirts. Then it was fake meat and soy cheese, and fried okra for dinner, I haven’t eaten okra since. After the evening meal, it was worship again from 6:00 to 7:30, then homework and off to bed. One day down, and another four years to go.

               I stopped setting my alarm for such an early time and woke instead to my roommate Valerie moving about the room. Valerie had shoulder length red wavy course hair and was covered with freckles. She was another devout Adventist who knew all of the rules forward and backward. Valerie, sadly, would later be known to me as the snitch. During my dash to the showers, Vicky continued her mentoring by introducing me to some of the other girls. Ronda, a teen model in the real world shared the similarity with me of not being at the academy of her own will. She became my best friend here and on the outside. Bonnie, become a great support. She was someone who watched out for me and kept me in line. We fondly nicknamed her Bon Bon. Cindy, another memorable cohort, was a senior who was always good at making us laugh. I definitely felt more comfortable with friends to count on. Even daily worship seemed more tolerable with Ronda passing me notes and Bonbon braiding my hair. I met Charles a big jock and another devoted Adventist. Life at the academy became more normal when I met Mike, a tall lanky blonde who became my boyfriend. Although we were forbidden from holding hands we enjoyed each other’s company. I started to realize that there were two types of students those who lived and breathed the Seventh Day Adventist life and those whose parents wanted to straighten them out.

      Now let’s talk about Sabbath. According to Adventists, the seventh day is Saturday and the seventh day shall be kept holy. On Saturday, we could sleep in because worship didn’t start until 8:00. Don’t get excited yet! It is an all day event, breaking only for soy cheese and mystery meats. The last Saturday of the month, of course, everyone fasted to cleanse the body. This entailed 24 hours with nothing to eat except water. Four years of this? Day after day, there was a routine of fake foods, continuous mopping, and endless worship. It astounded me that kids my age were choosing to live like this. As time went on, I began to respect them for their discipline.

        I wondered throughout my time at school whether I would make it. I found that this experience taught me patience, and showed me that I am capable of growing to the occasion, that I’m stronger than I ever thought I was, and most importantly, that I can survive with much less than I think I need. “Fake it ‘til you make it.” This strategy has served me well throughout the years. When I’m afraid of walking into a new situation like a meeting or a classroom, or, Heaven forbid, a presentation, this strategy works for me. I tell myself, “You’ve got this” or “Act as if…” I convinced myself of this throughout my experience at the academy and still do so today.

         I cannot imagine sending my children away from home and expecting them to live without the comforts we may all take for granted. Although I no longer consider myself Seventh Day Adventist, I do believe in the seventh day. The seventh day on my calendar is Saturday. The seventh day to me shall always be kept holy. Saturdays in my house are saved for worship and spending time with family. They are for remembering how lucky I am for the lessons that I learned along the way.    

Stand and Deliver

 

         

Stand and Deliver Notes
 

Based on a true story 1982

A new teacher arrives at an inner city school prepared to teach Computer Science classes but learns that the school doesn’t have computers. So Jaime Escalante, (Edward James Olmos) is asked to teach Math 1A. At first his class is very disruptive. The radio in his car is even stolen on the first day. The second day to catch the class’s attention, he shows up in a fry cooks uniform then divides an apple into quarters and asks the class what % of the apple they have. He is bullied by a group of Hispanics in class, one in particular is Finger Man, and he quickly puts him in place.

He decides that basic Math is just too easy for these students so he wants to teach them algebra.  “A negative times a negative equals a positive.” He feels that “The students will rise to the level of expectations given them.”
One student, (Lou Diamond Phillips) who started out being a disruption in class soon asks for 2 books so that his “homies” won’t see him carrying them to and from school Jaime gives him three.
The class is given 10 min quizzes and one student decides not to take them, she is made an example of the class and soon changes her mind.
Then Jaime’s class wants to know how math problems can relate to the real world so he takes them to an office where they are using calculus, he then decide he wants to teach his students calculus, he feels that with some summer school his students can do it. He has to persuade the school to allow him because some of the faculty isn’t convinced his class is capable of learning calculus. They feel that he is setting their students up for failure, but he has more faith in the students than that.
He has each student’s parents sign a contract for the schedule so that he can begin teaching his class from 8-5 and on Saturdays. He wants to prepare them for the Advance Placement exams.
Jaime is working 60 hours for week at the school and volunteers teaching adults at night. During one night class he bends over in pain falling face down on the stairs. He suffered a mild heart attack and his class is given a substitute teacher. This happens 2 weeks before the AP (Advance Placement) calculus exam; their sub is actually a music teacher.
Jaime walks into the classroom and is ready to teach after being out for only 2 days.
It is time for the exam.
Less than 2% of high school students even attempt the test. 18 took the test and 18 passed!
The board soon decides that the class must have cheated because the same questions were answered incorrectly. The class is being investigated.
After all of this Jaime’s car is stolen so he walks home.
A newer car is brought to his home by his students, a Volkswagen bug.
Jaime then goes to the board and asks to see the tests; he finds that his students finished the test in less time and with fewer than 4 questions wrong and that they were basically all the same wrong answers. He believes that this is because they all had the same teacher and that they are being questioned because it is an inner city school and that this is discrimination. 
The students decide to retake the exam but are given only one day to study. Jaime studies with them day and night.
It is time to retake the exam.
The board believes there may have been a misunderstanding when grading the tests, because all students passed the exam and Jaime requested that all original scores be reinstated.

I feel that Jaime was a great teacher in that he never gave up on his students; in fact he pushed them beyond what was comfortable for them and more towards what they were capable of. In some instances he pushed them a little too far, but not any further than he pushed himself. This caused conflicts with families and outside activities it even caused health issues. But he gave these students a chance that they may have not had otherwise. I believe it n takes one person to truly believe in you.