Group Argument on Mud Wrestling

                                       Group Argument on Mud Wrestling

Thesis:
Cartoonists do not value mud wrestling, but they should because mud wrestling actually increases their chances of becoming successful cartoonists.

Topic sentences:
1. Mud wrestling will increase their adrenaline and in turn their creativity.
2. Mud wrestling relieves stress from a long day of cartooning.
3. Mud wrestling is comical which can inspire them to create funnier cartoons.
4. Mud wrestling will increase their popularity as a cartoonists.

The Most Important Change Group Exercise

                                    The Most Important Change Group Exercise

The most important change in our education system is mindfulness. It is extremely important to build a level of mindfulness for the students in order to teach then to think and learn for themselves. "It teaches them kindness, caring, empathy, and being able to decenter from their own point-of-view and listen deeply to others." This sets up the students to be better communicators with other people and increases their chances of success in whatever they choose. With increased mindfulness, there is increased passion and creativity and therefore increased success.

My Rankings of Importance

The idea I think is most important is learning mindfulness. It is actually something I never thought about teaching children. But helping children deal with their emotions and helping their attention span is a big deal. And teaching them those qualities will help their learning tremendously.
The second most important is critical thinking. What we are doing now is just teaching them to conform and obedience. That besides obedience is crippling them. I think this is important because I can relate. I am usually scared to speak up and ask question, and I have to fight that every day. If I was taught to ask and analyze I think I could have gone much farther in school.
The third is the gift of grit. I think it is important to nurture and bring children up so they can be the best they can be. And they do not deserve any less!
The article by Deb Aronson is very important because it shows that the politics played in choosing programs is very crooked. Because a program was based towards Mexican- Americans they didn’t like that. Despite the fact that there was evidence proving that it helped those kids tremendously. It shows how prejudice  our politicians are.
The last one by Keith Gilyard talks about how humanities need to stay in the curriculum. I do think this is very important as well. I just had to put the upbringing of kids first because I think that’s where it all starts. All of the points the writers were making are very important and we would benefit from all of these ideas.

How each Author supports their ideas for change

In the article “A real education” by BARRY BOYCE he talks about the benefits of teaching mindfulness. He states, “Kindness, caring, empathy, being able to de-center from your own point of view and listen deeply to others—these are values that should be cultivated in our classrooms.” He says that a lot of children are at risk for depression by teaching them mindfulness through yoga and other practices it can “increase their awareness of their own emotions and their ability to regulate them.” Greenburg founded a PEACE program and has been funded millions of dollars and has helped students’ teachers and parents. He says his practice also helps children cope with anxiety and it is also effective with increasing children’s attention; which is another common problem among children today.
In the article by Jerry large “Gift of Grit curiosity helps children succeed” he speaks about a book by Paul Tough. He states, “Tough pulls together research and real-world experiences that indicate the relentless pursuit of higher test scores and greater proficiency in this subject or that is not the way to produce successful people.” He says to build “grit” or character in children will lead to success. He says parents and teacher can help them build character by nurturing them at an early age.
In the article “Children, Arts and Du Bois” by Keith Gilyard he speaks about a creative arts program that was shut down due to lack of funding; and explains why those programs are so important. He talks about the benefits of liberal thinking and how it relates to Du Bois and his effect on the education system. He says liberal thinking helps gain some practical means of helping present life. It also helps make present life mean more than it meant before. He also touches on the fact that students who grow up bottom or middle class do not have financial means for college and that more funding should be put towards their education as well as humanities.
In the article by Deb Aronson “Arizona bans Mexican American Studies Program,” they talk about a Mexican American Studies (MAS) program that raised the graduation rate significantly for Mexican-Americans as well as how many went to college after high school. Despite these great achievements the program was shut down saying that the program “promoted resentment to mainstream culture.” Other excuses were made like fighting in a Mexican book that they had removed from the curriculum. But there were other American books that had similar scenes in them. It was obvious the decision was crooked.
In the article “critical thinking” by bell hooks she touches on the fact that the world wants to only educate children on conformity and obedience. Which makes them think that thinking is dangerous, and don’t enjoy the process of thinking and instead fear it. She talks about how Engaged pedagogy is a teaching strategy aimed to restore students will to think and that in fact most students resist the critical thinking process. They are more comfortable with learning that allows them to remain passive because that is what they were taught.  

How Chalk proves the charges Freire, Gatto, Rose and Black have aginst the education System

How Chalk proves the charges Freire, Gatto, Rose and Black have aginst the education System   

A scene from Chalk that supports one of Friere's concerns is one with Mr. Lawery. During the movie he has lines on the chalkboard that he has the students read and repeat with him. He does not go into any explanations or interact with the students to get them to understand. He talked at them instead of with them. This is a prime example of the "Banking Method" explained by Paolo Freire in "The banking concept of education."

     In chalk Mrs. Riddell the vice principal comes to the principal of the school for important questions regarding the benefit of the school and its students. Every time she asks him a question he always answers with something completely unrelated because he either doesn't know or doesn't care about her concerns. As stated in the article "resolutions on education" by Mike Rose , "To ensure that people who actually know a lot about schools will appear on Oprah and will be consulted by politicians and policy makers. When President Obama visited my home state of California, the person he met with to talk about education was Steve Jobs." If the representative is asked an important question, just like politicians they will change the subject if they don't want to address that issue.

     Mr. Lawery's teaching methods were boring and he knew it. During a scene in Chalk he goes into the library and gets a book on "Classroom Management." He then goes to class and actually interacts with the students and had more fun. He even won the "spelling hornet" that was put on by the kids. This pertains to John Taylor Gatto's "Against School." He states, "Of course, teachers are themselves products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students, and as school personnel they are trapped inside structures even more rigid than those imposed upon the children. Who, then, is to blame? We all are. ”Mr. Lawery was not taught to teach the curriculum in a fun manor. Once he saw how boring it was he decided to "go outside the box."

    In Lewis Black's video "Education in Crisis" he shows a blip from someone responding to how to help our education system, he said "if you drive by a public school even if your kids don't go there, walk in and ask if you can help." Obviously that isn't how we are going to help our education system. The person that stated that was not educated enough to answer on how we can better our educational system. In the movie Chalk the new assistant principal Mrs. Reddell was hired because the old one was fired and they needed a quick replacement, and not necessarily because she was qualified. It shows that we will hire people who are not qualified to find solutions to our educational problems.


   

Rose vs. Balck

As stated by Mike Rose, something he wants to change is "To stop the accountability train long enough to define what we mean by “To stop making the standardized test score the gold-standard of student achievement and teacher effectiveness. In what other profession do we use a single metric to judge goodness? Imagine judging competence of a cardiologist by the average of her patients’ cardiograms." He means that we are grading a person by something that should not define their intelligence. I think black would agree with that. Black gave some opinions that he had but no direct facts to support his anger towards the education system. One thing he showed was that we were 21st and in 26th place for math and science in the world. And that we were in first place for self-esteem. And it shows a boy trying to make a jump on his bike onto a roof and misses. I think that shows the way our generation is. We are more into doing crazy things that can harm ourselves then caring about math and science. That is why we need to change our educational system. Both Rose and Black think that the educational systems are failing our kids in America and need to change. Rose states, “To make do with fewer economists in education. These practitioners of the dismal science have flocked to education reform, though most know little about teaching and learning. I mean, my Lord, with a few exceptions they did such a terrific job analyzing the financial and housing markets – something they do know a lot about – that the field of economics itself, according to The Economist, is experiencing an identity crisis. So tell me again why they’re especially qualified to change education for the better.” He is saying people who aren’t qualified to analyze teaching are; and people just listen and don’t even think about the fact that they might not even be qualified to make those assumptions. I think that Black would agree with that statement made by Rose. I agree with both of them, I just need to look into more of the correct facts at the right websites.

What i think high school is for....

I think that high school is about preparing already knowledgeable teenagers for adulthood. We learned how to read, write and about basic arithmetic in elementary and middle school.  So High school is more for applying those basic skills towards higher education that is forced upon us, while we are still treated as we were in elementary and middle school. I would change high school by making it all about what profession we decided to go for as adults or somehow applying a program to help the students that don’t know what they want to do after high school. I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do but didn’t have much help following them through. I know plenty of students that have no idea of what they want to do and just get by in high school to not know what they want to do after school. I think a big thing is kids just wanting their freedom after being treated like a child their whole lives. And if they weren’t treated as much like children and more like adults and talked to about their hopes and dreams and had help putting them into action; well that might help out some of the “lost” kids in high school.

Chalk's Illustratioins of Gattos and Feire's charges against education

Chalk shows the real lives of teachers in the educations system. Gatto states that he as well as his students are bored because of the educational system. In the movies Chalk Mr. Lawery reads lines off of the chalk board and makes his students repeat it with him. This is two of Gatto's charges against the educational system; the students are bored as well as the teacher and it is a prime example of the banking method. The teacher reads the information and the students repeat it and "store" it in their minds. Gatto also states that the system says that the teachers are the authority and that they are always right. Mr. Stroup talks to one of his students for using words that are too big and that the teacher does not understand. So the student is wrong for trying to use his full potential because it makes the teacher look bad. Again Mr Lawery's way of teaching is not letting the kids live the lessons of life by preaching the information he wants the students to know. As stated by Gatto "the students are filed away through the lack of creativity." Mr. Stroup pretend calls a student’s parent and says that he has a bad grade. He wouldn’t tell the student why he was in trouble. The he just made him leave afterwards. That was an example of a statement made by Gatto; “the teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his own professional authority. He had no right to do that but he did it anyways.

"Chalk" Movie Notes

Chalk

·         His whole family was teachers

·         He wouldn’t be who he is without his teachers

·         50% of teachers quit within the first 3 years

·         Mr. Stroup teaches history its his third year, he starts out with a joke. He is a jokester and opens the kids up by asking them what they did this summer. He wants to win teacher of the year.

·         Coach Webb is excited teaches PE. 2^nd year. She says she depends on other people a lot and sayd ppl don’t realize how hard it is to be a teacher.

·         Show up to class and be prepared with paper says another teacher

·         Another teacher was told that she could kiss his white ass

·         Mr. Lowery A boring teacher is trying to get his students to read the board with him. He has a degree in computer science and this is his first time teaching.

·         Administration is there from 6 30 to eight on the weekdays and comes in on Saturdays too. He thought he wouldn’t have to do that since he wasn’t a teacher anymore.

·         Mrs. Reddell first year AP

·         Mr. Stroup’s three goals from last year for is sarcasm, cleanliness, organization, and lesson plans.

·         Mrs. Reddell breaks up a fight.

·         Ms. Webb says people assume she is gay.

·         They say don’t be the students friend. He wants to let them know that he cares about them early on. The students start fighting and don’t really listen to him.

·         Third nigh in a row Mrs. Reddell gets home after ten pm. She hasn’t had much of a relationship with her husband.

·         Pe teacher makes a nice math teacher enforce the no tardy rule.

·         Someone takes Mr. Stroup’s chalk and won’t give it back.

·         So he lets a kid teach the class instead because they won’t respect them.

·         Ms. Webb says that she makes students understand her expectations and thinks she can help the students believe they can be athletic even though she knows they don’t want to be athletic.

·         Mr. Stroup talks to two students about using big words he doesn’t understand. And tells him not to because it makes him look dumb.

·         Mrs. Reddell tried to chase a cat down.

·         Ms. Webb teaches the kids some yoga positions.  A guy says it’s making him hot and vulnerable.

·         Mr. Stroup says he’s tried to incorporate humor and jokes into class.

·         Ms. Webb says she finds herself interested in someone at work.

·         Teachers discuss a few questions. Mr. Lowery wants to know who checks their personal email during class. He asks who borrows paper from the teacher room and who borrows cash from the petty money. He wants to know who took his stapler because its win integrity now month. He’s explaining to them about integrity and how their supposed to be role models.

·         Mr. Stroup calls a student’s parent and says that he has a bad grade and fakes it. He doesn’t even tell the student what it’s about.

·         Teaching is taking up Mr. Stroups life and he can’t imagine dating anyone because of that.

·         Mr. Stroup freaks out on his students for having their cell phones go off. And kicks someone out and then tried to make him come back and he doesn’t and tell him he is a shitty teacher.

·         Mr. Lowery gets nominated for teacher of the year.

·         He speaks at the teacher of the year debate. And gets recognition from the crowd. But he doesn’t win.

·         The assistant principal said she filled in for teachers twice in the whole year and those were her best days. She misses teaching and has no life as an administrative assistant.

·         Mr. Lawry wins the teacher spelling hornet.

·         Mr. Lawry raps with the kids and has a good time.

·         Mr. Lawry doesn’t know if he is going to come back next year. He says he respects teaching more, but he doesn’t know if he likes it very much. Another teacher says he wishes he had the guts to leave.

·         Ms. Webb learned people are very insecure and she is very pushy and she needs to be more encouraging.

·         Being a teacher is a gift maybe someone can learn but nobody has taught me. Says Mr. Lawry. He didn’t sign for next year.

Different Strategies for my Essasy Development

After reading the sections in our writing simplified book a couple of them stick out, and I will use them to write my formal paper #3. The first one is cause and/or effect. I will gather many facts about how the education system is today. Then I will explain the effects it has had on the students. I want to find stories of many students’ and how they educational system effected their life. As well as find studies that have been done. In order to persuade my readers I must have many facts and evidence to back up my opinion on the subject. The other one is argument. I will be arguing that the educational system needs to change. The world is ever changing and we cannot get by with the same educational system in place. It too needs to be ever changing, and flexible to adapt to the needs of its students. In order to have a good argument paper I must clearly state my point of view about the educational system. I must not state a fact, since I cannot argue a fact, it must be arguable. I will have a clear thesis at the beginning of my paper so the reader knows exactly what I will be arguing. And of course I MUST have good supportive evidence to support my argument. I also read about classification and compare and/or contrast. But after reading all of the different sections I will be sticking with cause and/or effect and Argument.

Freire and Gatto's Smilarities

Paulo Freire and Gatto's papers have very strong opinions on the educational system in America. Gatto goes more in depth on the history of how we attained our system in America. While Freire explains the system in which the students are taught. I think they would both agree that the system they use to teach today is very boring. As stated by Gatto "Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids, as I often did, why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around."  A quote from Freire states “The teacher talks about reality as if it were motionless, static, compartmentalized, and predictable. Or else he expounds on a topic completely alien to the existential experience of the students. His task is to "fill" the students with the contents of his narration -- contents which are detached from reality, disconnected from the totality that engendered them and could give them significance. Words are emptied of their concreteness and become a hollow, alienated, and alienating verbosity.” After reading that I just think of how boring the lesson plans are for the students. Both of them talk about the “oppressor” who wants to keep things the way they created it to be and that they are not interested in people asking questions or changing their ways of doing things. As quoted by Freire, “The capability of banking education to minimize or annul the student's creative power and to stimulate their credulity serves the interests of the oppressors, who care neither to have the world revealed nor to see it transformed. The oppressors use their "humanitarianism" to preserve a profitable situation. Thus they react almost instinctively against any experiment in education which stimulates the critical faculties and is not content with a partial view of reality always seeks out the ties which link one point to another and one problem to another.”  Gatto talks about how they put down originality and want to breed the same safe students who won’t ask questions and just do as their told. He states, “Compounding our error is the fact that the national literature holds numerous and surprisingly consistent statements of compulsory schooling's true purpose. We have, for example, the great H. L. Mencken, who wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.” They both have a lot of the same beliefs.

 

Paulo Freire "The Banking Concept of Education "

After reading INFED's opinion on Paulo Freire idea of "free style" learning. They say that, "Freire certainly made a number of important theoretical innovations that have had a considerable impact on the development of educational practice." They talk about both his contribution to the educational system and the critique they have for his methods of thinking.

They also said that "The process is important and can be seen as enhancing community and building social capital and to leading us to act in ways that make for justice and human flourishing."

They also critique him saying that his new ideas of teaching aren't so far off from the banking method.

Reading this article honestly confused me and I have to break down many words to understand what information the writer was trying to his readers to understand.

One thing I think about Paulo Freire’s ideas on teaching is that there is no authority. He wants the teachers and the students to be equal. I believe that we should be treating high school students more like adults and need to stop instilling so much fear and doubt in them. I found an anonymous quote on search quotes. “What causes adolescents to rebel is not the assertion of authority but the arbitrary use of power, with little explanation of the rules and no involvement in decision-making... Involving the adolescent in decisions doesn't mean that you are giving up your authority. It means acknowledging that the teenager is growing up and has the right to participate in decisions that affect his or her life."

I believe this statement and I think it speaks for itself. Allowing a teenager to have a say in decisions that affect them will help them to feel more empowered and ultimately help them grow into mature adults.

Comapring my high school experince to Gatto's experience

     When I think back on my high school experience I did have some good teachers that I enjoyed very much. If I really thought about why I enjoyed them, besides the fact that they were cool people I enjoyed being around; the other reasons were because they were real with me. To explain further they probably didn't always act and say things that they "were supposed" to say. They went out of the formal teacher student relationship which could have been frowned upon by the school faculty. Having them treat me as an adult made me respect them and listen to their advice and teachings. So in contrast I could say that my teachers that were completely ethical in their student teacher relationship with me did bore me. Following the same boring lesson plan semester after semester was boring to listen to. It didn't grab my attention in any way, and especially me being young and immature I didn't care about school like I should have because it didn't interest me for the most part. If high school was more interactive and if they treated us more like the adults we were turning into (if we deserved it of course) would have been more interesting and enjoyable for me. So I would say that my experience was similar to Gatto's and I agree with what he has to say about the education system.
     In conclusion, I would have to admit that high school for the most part was boring and did not grab my attention; except for the few teachers that treated me as an adult and made class more fun in ways some school faculty probably wouldn't approve of. We would be better off with our future high school students if we listened to Gatto's opinion on the education system we have in America.

How public education cripples our kids and why Group Discussion

           We agree with the statement because he was taught how to teach by a system that he doesn't agree with. He states, "the work was stupid,  and that it made no sense." Since he was forced to teach in a way he didn't like he was bored for his whole career.

Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time in a teachers' lounge can vouch for the low energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to be found there.

 Of course, teachers are themselves products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students, and as school personnel they are trapped inside structures even more rigid than those imposed upon the children.

Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids, as I often did, why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it.

They said teachers didn't seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren't interested in learning more. And the kids were right: their teachers were every bit as bored as they were.

He told me that I was never to use that term in his presence again, that if I was bored it was my fault and no one else's.

This question can also be supported by the Ken Robinson video who thinks that the school system is crippling our students by squashing their creativity.
Also Dead poets society supports this question. the teacher Mr. Keating has a different approach to teaching. He wants to get the kids out of the classroom to see life differently and think for themselves.

Question 2:
Gatto acknowledged the problems of the education system and wanted to improve it.
teach your own to be leaders and adventurers
teach your own to think critically and independently

Question 3
Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction authority.
The integrating function might well be called the conformity function
make children as alike as possible

Question 4
The entire pop benefits from teaching children to grow independently
Were taught education is to help kids reach their personal best
education system dumbs people down and discard them if they don't conform.

Question 5
Alexander Ingles 1918 book
compulsory schooling on this continent was to be intended to be just what is was for Prussia in 1820's
Modern schooling was to make a sort of surgical incision into the unity of the underclasses
divide children by subject, age-grading gender by constant rankings on tests and many other subtle means.

Question 6
adapted function, fixed habits of authority like speaking out against teachers and getting punished
make children diagnosed
The way students are tested
children are only sorted into a role and trained only as far as their desination
The system is kept going by training an elite group to carry it on.

Question 7
Modern schooling turns kids into addicts by having routine
turning school into second nature
"do we need to go to school?"
other people have been successful without school
our addiction to staying childish, not thinking we can do more when we can.

Question 8
Maturity by now has been banished
Easy divorce laws have removed the need to work on relationships
easy credit, removed the need for fiscal self control
answers have removed the need to ask questions
we have become a nation of children

Compare/ Contrast Essay Final Draft

 

In life our teachers can help shape the people we turn out to be. They are role models for young impressionable students. I believe that being confident and being flexible to the students’ needs are very important qualities for teachers to have. Once students can feel comfortable to explore their minds, be creative and ask questions;  they are then able to see their true potential. Teachers have a very important job that helps shape our future society. Ms. Gruwell and Ms. Watson are similar in many ways, but they both taught at very different schools with students that had a different upbringing. They both wanted to be exactly where they were in their career and adapted to the students they were teaching. They did this by being determined and doing what they thought was right for their students despite the schools beliefs.

 

                Ms. Gruwell taught English in 1992 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. The school did not have a lot of money and had some of the lowest scholastic records in the district since the school was forced to do a voluntary integration act. As a result, there was a lot of racial tension and gang violence on a daily basis. The other teachers at Woodrow Wilson were upset about the integration act, and did not believe in many of the students. As quoted by Ms. Gruwell, “What's the point of a voluntary integration program if the kids making it to high school have a 5th grade reading level? All the program is doing is warehousing these kids until they're old enough to disappear.” She was excited about teaching and seemed to be the only one who cared about the future of the students.  On the other hand, Ms. Watson taught history of Art at the conservative Wellesley College for girls. The year was 1953 in Massachusetts. All of the students were very proper and bright. The teachers’ main focus was preparing the girls for marriage and keeping their husbands’ happy. People who did not believe in the conservative ways of living were looked down upon and Ms. Watson was more liberal. She asked the principal if she was proud of the girls and she said yes. Then Ms. Watson Stated, “Half of them are already married, and the other half, oh just give it a month or so! I mean, it's really only a matter of time! That's what they're doing here, right; they're just biding their time until somebody proposes!” Ms. Watson had come to Wellesley to make a difference.

 

                On the first day of school Ms. Gruwell wrote her name on the chalkboard board while everyone sat in their seats surrounded by their own race. The classroom was very plain with the desks for the students, the teacher’s desk and a chalk board. She was very excited to teach at Woodrow Wilson high, and came to this school because of the voluntary integration act. As she was trying to take attendance they were all talking and laughing, just ignoring her. During attendance two of the boys started to stand up to fight and she said, “Please sit back in your seats.” Of course they didn’t hear her or just didn’t care. So she ran out of the class and got somebody to break up the fight. At Wellesley College Ms. Watson came into class saying” Good morning this is History of Art, and we’ll be following Dr. Staunton’s Syllabus. The girls were all quietly waiting, sitting in their seats looking perfectly poised. One of the girls jumped up to turn off the lights before she could finish asking for them to be turned off. “From the beginning man has always had an impulse to create art; can anyone tell me what this is?” The girls knew everything about every piece of art she showed because they read and memorized the whole syllabus. One of the students suggested they all go to study since they already knew what she was going to teach them. Without her saying anything they all got up and left.

 

Despite the challenges that Ms. Gruwell and Ms. Watson faced, neither of them gave up on what they believed was right for their students. Ms. Gruwell had the class do a self-evaluation and one of the students gave himself an F. Given the reputation of the students at her school any of the other teachers wouldn’t care, but Ms. Watson cared.  She was outside the classroom with him and said,

“You know what this is? This is a Fuck You to me and everyone in this class. I don't want excuses. I know what you're up against. We're all of us up against something. So you better make up your mind, because until you have the balls to look me straight in the eye and tell me this is all you deserve, I am not letting you fail. Even if that means coming to your house every night until you finish the work. I see who you are. Do you understand me? I can see you. And you are not failing.”

In Ms. Watson’s class a student hadn’t showed up to class since she was married. Then suddenly she showed up to class and Ms. Watson told her that she expects attendance from her.  Ms. Watson was then informed that the faculty turns their head on a few absences when a girl gets married. Miss Watson then states, “why don’t you just get married when you are a freshmen that way you can graduate without actually ever having to step foot on campus. Come to class do the work or ill fail you.” 

 

The teachers were determined for the students to see life differently. Ms. Watson helped one of her students apply for Yale Law School, and she got accepted. So a disgruntled, conservative student wrote a newspaper article stating her opinion on the subject. The next day she walked into class and said,

“Quiet. Today you just listen. What will future scholars see when they study us, a portrait of women today? There you are ladies: the perfect likeness of a Wellesley graduate, Magna Cum Laude, doing exactly what she was trained to do.” She showed them advertisements for housewives. “A Rhodes Scholar, I wonder if she recites Chaucer while she presses her husband's shirts. Slide - now you physics majors can calculate the mass and volume of every meatloaf you make. Slide - A girdle to set you free. What does that mean? What does that mean? What does it mean? I give up, you win. The smartest women in the country, I didn't realize that by demanding excellence I would be challenging... what did it say? The roles you were born to fill? It's, uh, it's my mistake. Class Dismissed.”

Then she walked out. The girls sat quietly. They finally started to realize what she was trying to show them, that they can be more than a housewife.  In Ms. Gruwell’s class the kids were passing around a drawing of a person with big lips while laughing about it. Once it was passed to a boy in the front she grabbed it from him. She then finally got mad and made them close their workbooks.  She said,

“I saw a picture just like this once, in a museum. Only it wasn't a black man, it was a Jewish man. And instead of the big lips he had a really big nose, like a rat's nose. And these drawings were put in the newspapers by the most famous gang in history. They started out poor and angry and everybody looked down on them. They took over countries. You want to know how? They just wiped out everybody else. Yeah, they wiped out everybody they didn't like and everybody they blamed for their life being hard. And one of the ways they did it was by doing this: see, they print pictures like this in the newspapers, Jewish people with big, long noses... blacks with big, fat lips. In fact, life would be a whole lot better if they were all dead. That's how a holocaust happens. And that's what you all think of each other.”

 The students hadn’t heard of the holocaust, but she opened their eyes to learn from the holocaust. She made them interested in learning about it and relating it to their own lives.

 

          In conclusion, both of these teachers showed the students that they are capable of more than they realized. Ms. Gruwell showed her students that they deserve more than the gang life and opened their eyes to see life in a positive way. Ms. Watson’s mission was to get her students to see that they are capable of being something more than a housewife. The teachers were both looked down upon by their co-workers for being different. Ultimately, they showed their students that they don’t have to be like everyone else.  They both gave hope that their students had never known.

Class Exercise

When I was six-teen I walked into the commons area it had a black smooth cement floor and there was a big set of stairs leading up to the library. Teachers were standing around chaperoning. There were kids sitting around round tables talking, laughing and eating their breakfast. There was a big group of the "cool" guys standing so everyone could see them. Lunch ladies at the many breakfast lines, there were more options than I was used to. Walking in everyone seems to notice you, which made me hesitate. The teachers greet with a smile.

Walking towards Ms. Kozak's classroom I could see her standing at her door greeting everybody who walked by or came in with a smile and a "Good Morning." She was wearing a light purple skirt with a matching top, very colorful but most of all I saw her big smile beaming with happiness and self confidence. Once we sat down and she came in she yells "Hey Good Morning im Ms. Kozak." It was almost as if one of my fellow seventh grade peers was talking to us. Even though we were all shy and timid we couldn't help but smile and start to feel a little more comfortable as the tension in their shoulders started to ease. She just talked to us like we were her friends saying, "I live by myself with my cat and I love to read." She told us about herself and then moved onto what work we would be doing by turning on her overhead and plopping down comfortably in her chair as if she was ready to watch her favorite TV show. She fished out a color she like of her dry erase pen and started to write the assignment we would be working on.

Compare/ Contrast Essay Rough Draft

Rough Draft Compare/ Contrast Essay

In life our teachers can help shape the people we turn out to be. They are role models for young impressionable students. Most importantly they are our gateway to knowledge.  I believe that being confident, having a sense of humor and being flexible to the students’ needs are very important qualities for teachers to have. Once students can feel comfortable to explore their minds, be creative and ask questions then then they are able to see their true potential. Teachers have a very important job that helps shape our future society. Ms. Gruwell and Ms. Watson are similar in many ways, but they both taught at very different schools with students that had a different upbringing. They both wanted to be exactly where they were in their career and adapted to the students they were teaching. They did this by being determined and an inspiration to their students.

                Ms. Gruwell teaches English in 1992 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. The school does not have a lot of money and have some of the lowest scholastic records in the district since the school was forced to do a voluntary integration act. As a result, there is a lot of racial tension and gang violence on a daily basis. The other teachers at Woodrow Wilson are upset about the integration act, and do not believe in the students. As quoted by Ms. Gruwell, “What's the point of a voluntary integration program if the kids making it to high school have a 5th grade reading level? All the program is doing is warehousing these kids until they're old enough to disappear.” She seems to be the only one to care about the future of the students.  Ms. Watson teaches history of Art at the conservative Wellesley College for girls. The year is 1953 in Massachusetts. All of the students are very proper and bright. The teacher’s main focus is preparing the girls for marriage and keeping their husband’s happy. People who do not believe in the conservative ways of living are looked down upon. She asked the principal if she was proud of the girls and she said yes. Then Ms. Watson Stated, “Half of them are already married, and the other half, oh just give it a month or so! I mean, it's really only a matter of time! That's what they're doing here, right; they're just biding their time until somebody proposes!”

                On the first day of school Ms. Gruwell wrote her name on the chalkboard board while everyone sat in their seats surrounded by their own race. The classroom is very plain with the desks for the students, the teacher’s desk and a chalk board. She is very excited to teach at Woodrow Wilson high, and came to this school because of the voluntary integration act. As she was trying to take attendance they were all talking and laughing, just ignoring her. During attendance two of the boys start to stand up to fight and she says, “Please sit back in your seats.” Of course they don’t hear her or just don’t care. So she runs out of the class and gets somebody to break up the fight. At Wellesley College Ms. Watson comes into class saying” Good morning this is History of Art, we’ll be following Dr. Staunton’s Syllabus. The girls are all quietly waiting sitting in their seats looking perfectly poised. One of the girls jumps up to turn off the lights before she can finish asking for them to be turned off. “From the beginning man has always had an impulse to create art; can anyone tell me what this is?” The girls knew everything about every piece of art she showed because they read and memorized the whole syllabus. One of the students suggests they all go to study since they already know what she was going to teach them. Without her saying anything they all got up and left.

Despite the challenges that Ms. Gruwell and Ms. Watson face, they are both very determined to do what they believe is right for their students. Ms. Gruwell had the class do a self-evaluation and one of the boys gave himself an F after his brother was sentenced to prison. She was outside the classroom alone with him and said,

You know what this is? This is a Fuck You to me and everyone in this class. I don't want excuses. I know what you're up against. We're all of us up against something. So you better make up your mind, because until you have the balls to look me straight in the eye and tell me this is all you deserve, I am not letting you fail. Even if that means coming to your house every night until you finish the work. I see who you are. Do you understand me? I can see you. And you are not failing.

 It would be common for a teacher to not care if a student rates themselves as failing but Ms. Gruwell would not let that happen. In Ms. Watson’s class a student hadn’t showed up to class since she was married. Then suddenly she shows up to class and Ms. Watson tells her that she expects attendance.  Ms. Watson is then informed that the faculty turns their head on a few absences when a girl gets married. Miss Watson then says “why don’t you just get married when you are a freshmen that way you can graduate without actually ever having to step foot on campus. Come to class do the work or ill fail you.” 

Ms. Watson helped one of her students apply for Yale Law School, and she got accepted. So a disgruntled, conservative student wrote a newspaper article saying that Ms. Watson encourages Wellesley girls to reject the role they were born to fill. The next day she walked into class and said, “Quiet. Today you just listen. What will future scholars see when they study us, a portrait of women today? There you are ladies: the perfect likeness of a Wellesley graduate, Magna Cum Laude, doing exactly what she was trained to do.” She shows them slides of ads for women. “A Rhodes Scholar, I wonder if she recites Chaucer while she presses her husband's shirts. Slide - now you physics majors can calculate the mass and volume of every meatloaf you make. Slide - A girdle to set you free. What does that mean? What does that mean? What does it mean? I give up, you win. The smartest women in the country, I didn't realize that by demanding excellence I would be challenging... what did it say? The roles you were born to fill? It's, uh, it's my mistake. Class Dismissed.” Then she walked out. It was then that the girls didn’t have anything to say. She had finally gotten through to them.  In Ms. Gruwell’s class the kids passing around a drawing of a person with big lips laughing at it. Once it was passed to a boy in the front she grabbed it from him, finally got mad and made them close their workbooks.  She said “I saw a picture just like this once, in a museum. Only it wasn't a black man, it was a Jewish man. And instead of the big lips he had a really big nose, like a rat's nose. And these drawings were put in the newspapers by the most famous gang in history. You think they started out poor and angry and everybody looked down on them. They took over countries. You want to know how? They just wiped out everybody else. Yeah, they wiped out everybody they didn't like and everybody they blamed for their life being hard. And one of the ways they did it was by doing this: see, they print pictures like this in the newspapers, Jewish people with big, long noses... blacks with big, fat lips. In fact, life would be a whole lot better if they were all dead. That's how a holocaust happens. And that's what you all think of each other.”  

          In conclusion, both of these teachers showed the students a different path to go down in life. Ms. Gruwell showed her students that they are capable of being more than a gangster and opened their eyes to see life in a positive way. Ms. Watson’s mission was to get her students to see that they could be more than just a housewife. They both gave hope that the students had never known.

   

Mona Lisa Smile Notes

Mona Lisa Smile Notes

·         Miss Watson came because she wanted to make a difference.

·         She came to teach History of Art

·         movie took place in new England at welsley 1953

·         First day she showed pictures on the first day that the girls knew everything about already. She was very taken back.

·         All of the girls read the entire text of the Art History.

·         So the girls just left to go to independent study.

·         She showed art that was not in the syllabus so the girls didn’t know. She asked them if what they thought of it. She told them to think without having a text book telling them what to think.

·         She tried to get them to open their minds to a new idea.

·         She showed a picture she painted for her mom when she was a child, and then a picture of her mom. Art can be anything.

·         Girls are taught that their sole purpose is to take care of their husbands and kids

·         She gave some girl a C grade on a paper because she didn’t write what she thought, she referenced Strouss instead of writing what she thought. Miss Watson gave her another chance to write what she thought.

·         She is pre law and said after school she was gonna get married and didn’t plan on going to law school. Ms W told her she can get married and go to school.

·         She gave her an application to Yale law school.

·         Miss Watson took the students to a warehouse to look at a piece of art. She told them to do themselves a favor and stop talking and look and observe.

·         Her teaching methods were unorthodoxed and that Welsley has more traditional teaching methods.

·         Her room is messier than the other teacher’s rooms.

·         Her boyfriend came to visit on x mas and proposed to her.

·         Vango refused to conform the ideals.  Nobody understood his art until sixty years later and then he was famous. She told them not to conform to what other people say you should do.

·         Mrs. Jones  hadn’t showed up to class since she was married.  She said that the faculty turns their head on a few absences when a girl gets married. Miss Watson said she expects attendance “ why don’t you just get married when you are a freshmen that way you can graduate without actually ever having to step foot on campus ” “come to class do the work or ill fail you” She said if you fail me there will be consequences”

·         Miss Watson is nominated by Julia to attend a girls meeting.

·         Mrs. Jones wrote an article saying miss Watson encourages welsley girls to reject the roles they were born to fill.

·         She showed the girls a portrait of women,” you are the smartest women in the country I didn’t realize that by demanding excellence I would be challenging the roles you were born to fill. That was my mistake.”

·         There just buying their time until someone proposes.

·         She is teaching at a school that is a finishing school she thought would turn out tomorrow’s leaders, not their wives.

·         She went to junes house to tell her about more law schools close to where she will be living and june said she doesn’t want to sacrifice a family for her career. She wants a family more than anything.

·         The board reviewed ms Watson for next year and said that she can return next year. They want her to under conditions: will teach only the syllabus as outlined, lesson plans must be submitted for approval, must not provide counsel for any of the girls.

·         I came to welsley to make a difference but to change for others is not comprisable.  

·         Not all that wanderer’s are aimless.

·         She decided to leave welsley, and all of the girls in the class followed her cab on their bikes waving goodbye.