1.  a.  On the leading British Cancer Charity website, Macmillan Cancer Support, they state that "there's   some evidence to show that being active at the recommended levels and maintaining a healthy weight can reduce the risk of some cancers progressing or coming  back".

     b.  A leading British cancer charity sponsored a study called, Move More, which compiled the findings of sixty studies that measured the effects of exercise on cancer patients. In this study they found that "some patients should view light exercise almost as a form of treatment itself, the report noted that two and a half hours of exercise a week could lower a breast cancer patient's risk of dying or cancer recurrence by 40 percent".

2.  a..The associate director for applied research at the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Rachel Ballard-Barbash, in a recent study which concluded that regular physical activity "decreases the risk of cancer-related mortality and of all cause mortaliy. This research is also supported by the Nurses Health Society that found that "women who walked briskly at least 3-5 hours per week were 50  percent lower risk of death from the disease".

b. When speaking about research that has been concerning how phyiscal activity effected those diagnosed with cancer, Dr. Ballard-Barbash, associate director for applied research at the National Cancer Institute, suggested that the majority of research had to do with woman breast cancer survivors because "there's a lot of research money in that feild" which means that there has been more focus on that area of research. Though, there a very large study in the Netherlands was done recently that involved colorectal cancer survivors. In that study, Laurien M. Buffart, a professor at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, reported that "fatigue and the fear of tiredness may be a barrier to physical activity for some people". Yet on the other hand, "exercise energizes people who are undergoing or have completed cancer treatment".

Chapter 6--Managing Information and Taking Notes

Chapter 6 is full of helpful suggestions as how to be organized and keep track of all of the research that we will be doing. Having an organizational plan for managing all of the information that we find, coupled with taking notes will help us to sort out the sources that will be the most useful to us by causing us to keep an account of what we have gleaned from each source and how that information helps us to answer our chosen research questions.

This can be accomplished by having a strategy for saving our print and digital information. A few of the suggestions are to keep our print information in a filling system that makes sense to us be it in a notebook or three ring binder, stacks of related sources with post-it notes or in a filing cabinet. Once an organizational scheme is chosen, it is important to stick with it as having your information organized in numerous ways will cause confusion and you might overlook something valuable. As we gather information we should be sure to note the publication information of each source, record the date you found the information and a brief note regarding your impressions and how we will use the source. Storing our digital information in a single folder will help to keep our information organized. We may also want to consider saving your files to a hard drive, flash drive or even a smartphone in order to allow us more flexibility in when and where we work on the our projects. 

Note taking will allow us to keep track of and have easy access to to information, ideas and arguments. Taking notes as we read our sources allows us a deeper understanding of the material that we have read and helps us to track our impressions. Systematic and careful note taking and writing summaries of the material will also help to safeguard against accidental plagiarism by a) quoting the author precisely or b) using our own words to sum up the ideas that were being put forth and our own impressions about them. 

Lastly, a working and an annotated bibliography will also help us to keep track of our sources and how we intend to use them and why.

Chapter 3--Developing Your Research Question and Proposal

In Chapter 3 we learned how to develop our research questions and proposals. Writing a clear and concise research question will not only guide our research, but it will provide the infrastructure for forming our position in our papers by serving as our guide. The majority of research questions will begin with the a question word such as, what, why, when, where, who or how. Yet, some will ask whether or not something is possible will begin with would or could. When a paper is analyzing whether or not a “particular action, policy procedure or decision” is appropriate, your question will begin with the word should.

There are four steps to take when selecting your research question. The first is to Reflect on your writing situation. Once you have surveyed your topic and decided on what aspect you would like to write about, ask yourself if based on what you have already learned, has your understanding of the your writing situation changed? Next, determined what it is that you would like to learn next. Lastly, how has your preliminary understanding of your topic and issue influenced your research? Step two is to  generate potential research questions. These questions will be generated based on things like, what information is available about an issue, and the history, assumptions, goals, outcomes and policies surrounding an issues. These types of questions will help you to define and evaluate an issue. As well as compare and contrast and analyze an issue. The example of how this can be done on page 44 was interesting and helpful, but also a bit overwhelming. In step three, you will begin crafting questions that reflect your writing situation. This is done by reviewing the questions that were generated by the previous steps and choosing those that particularly interest you, then begin to write these questions using the previously stated question words. Once you have generated a list of potential questions, step four is to select and refine your question by evaluating which one is the most likely to help you fulfill your purpose while holding your readers interests and providing the best possible evidence. 

Once you have your research question, you are set to write your research proposal. A research proposal is how you will reveal what you have already done to research your question as well as what you will do to complete your project. Included in this is a title page, an introduction that identifies your topic issue, and/or research question, review of literature, an explanation of how you will collect information, a project timeline and a working bibliography.

Though this seems like quite a lot of up front work, I can see how this work would make the final paper stronger and more effective.

Chapter 5 --Evaluating Sources

Chapter 5 discusses how to evaluate sources for use in a research paper. In considering which sources to use in a research paper, one must be ever mindful of the purpose and position of the paper. Keeping your purpose and position in mind while you gather sources and information you will more precisely be able to gather the evidence that you will need to present in an organized manner that helps your audience to see your point of view. You will need to ensure that you have enough evidence to build a strong case, but not so much that your argument gets lost. In other words you want to make sure that what you use is meaningful. Sometimes more is just plain too much.  The evidence offered should also be fair and not obviously twisted to fit your point of view.

Choosing to cite authors who are credible is also of importance. Knowing that they are well informed in their fields of study adds credibility to your argument. As you consider an author, consider how their own biases may be effecting the argument in the source. For example, if you were to look a bit more closely at author you might find that he/she is firmly on a particular side of an issue and in fact the purpose of their paper is to fully support their side of an argument, not to inform you of an issue. This also applies to the publisher as so not want an author or a publisher that is heavily biased in one direction or another as this might weaken your argument. An example of this is if you were doing an environmental piece exploring alternative fuel and the article you read was written  by someone who worked for an oil company; their job depends on oil use  Additionally, it is important to consider the date of a particular piece was published as this might effect the impact of your argument. Lastly, consider the genre, or document type, that you will be using. A professional journal will cite published sources and research making it easier for readers to track down related  sources. Whereas blogs are less likely to have this and more likely to contain lots of opinions that may or not be substantiated. 

Being mindful that your paper is meant to present evidence to your reader as to why you have taken the position that you have, will help guide your choices of sources to include. 

Chapter 4 -- Reading Critically

In chapter four we learned how to read actively and critically, or with attitude as it says in the book. Reading actively means that instead of just reading a text we are getting deeper with it. Our reading should be a three-fold process of first skimming the material so that we are oriented to how it is laid out, reading for meaning and re-reading sections that were not clear. While you are engaging in this process, you should be highlighting or underling sections of importance or relevance, annotating in the margins and taking notes. The importance of a piece to our projects will be informed by the research question that we develop. By remaining mindful of our question, the position that we are taking and the requirements of our assignment, we can more accurately gauge whether or no a piece is useful to our projects. Reading in this manner requires that we are curios and do not take the information at face value rather we should question and dig deeper, being aware of how the source is being presented. I felt that this chapter was a good reminder to really think about our sources and the how they are being presented and for what purposes. Being aware of this will help us to use information that is unbiased.

Chapter 2--Exploring and Focusing

As we begin to explore our topics, it is important to be organized and have a game plan for how we will go about our research. During the first step in our exploration we should make a list of potential people with whom we can discuss our topic, such as people who either know a great deal about our topics, librarians and those who have had involvement that relates to our topics. We should also create a list of potential places or situations where we might be able to observe something about our topics. It will be much more meaningful and organized if we create a list of questions that we begin asking people, ourselves in the situations that we observe and in our initial browsing of sources and develop a way to keep track of our findings.

The next step is to begin identifying sources that are relevant to our research and assessing whether or not they are credible. Lastly, we will begin the process of identifying the issues involved in our topics and find the one that holds our interests and has the greatest potential for being able to fulfill the requirements of our assignment. 

It is nice to have this all spelled out in a step by step fashion as to how to pursue this project. I think that this will be helpful. I find that the biggest challenge that I have is just getting started and identifying a topic. Writing is not something that I get excited about, but I do understand it’s importance and that it is necessary to do well. 

Chapter 1--Getting started

There are several important elements to keep in mind while writing a research paper. The first is choosing to write on a topic that connects you personally to the your topic or writing and your audience. Not only will the project capture your interest, but you will likely be able to write a better paper for a topic that you have some enthusiasm for. It is also important to understand the context of why you are being asked to write the paper in the first place. In this case, we are being asked to write a 3,00 word, persuasive paper. As with any conversation and in particular one that is meant to persuade, you must know who your audience is and the context for which we are writing, which in our case is our instructor and fellow classmates. How we present our papers would be one way if we were presenting them to a very focused audience such as for historians and another for our class which is comprised of many different people. Second, we must choose a topic. Again, our topics should interest us. Finding a topic can be challenging, but by doing exercises such as brainstorming, freewriting, looping and clustering can help us come up with a topic that both interests you and holds appeal for others.

Final Paper #3

Lisa Miller

Dr. Sonia Apgar Begert

English 101

19 March 2013

Increase the Support, Increase the Performance

Good, bad or mediocre, with very few exceptions everyone has had an experience in school K-12. Those experiences determine not only what a student learns, but shapes the attitude and relationship that a student has regarding learning and school. A good teacher can be a saving a grace. A beacon that stands out and inspires us to to learn while challenging us to push ourselves to do more than we thought possible. By introducing and opening new worlds to us teachers shape our futures and determine the adults that we become. Yet there are few really great teachers. Increasing the amount of support that we give new teachers by pairing them with mentors and strong, encouraging principles is the change that I would make to our K-12 educational system.

Beyond the training that a new teacher will have received in order to complete a teaching certificate, a newly hired teacher needs to be paired with one who is more  experienced, who acts as a mentor. No matter how naturally gifted one might be, having someone there to talk to who has been in the trenches would be of value. Teachers may start off with great enthusiasm for teaching, yet fifty percent quit within the first three years of teaching (Chalk). Creating a mentoring program that effectively trains and supports a new teacher could prove to be invaluable in creating great teachers and retaining them. Dan Brown argues that “great teachers can’t be built without seeing others in action”. Offering either a reduced load and/or co-teaching with a more experienced teacher would allow the new teacher to learn the ropes of classroom management while being able to observe their mentor in action and receive frequent reviews. In the movie, Chalk, we see a great example of why this would be important in Mr. Lowry, where we observe him in his first year teaching. Mr. Lowry had recently been divorced and though he had a career as a computer engineer, he evaluated his career and made a change. After taking two different aptitude tests that indicated teaching might be a good fit, he pursued a new career as a teacher. Though we are not told of the process that he underwent to get a teaching job, through observing him in the classroom we can guess that there was little classroom management training. He was unprepared to teach and as such he was miserable and made his students miserable. It was not until he himself went to the library and checked out a book on classroom management did the situation in his classroom begin to improve, yet the student teacher relationship had already been damaged. Sadly, he also received good advice from one of the mothers of a student in his class which also seemed to make a difference, but this advice should have come from a mentor at the school. 

In addition to classroom management, a mentor would provide a new teacher with advice on lesson planning. A statistic that is presented in the movie, Waiting For Superman, is that a bad teacher will cover only fifty percent of the curriculum whereas a good teacher is able to cover one hundred and fifty percent. Which means that students who are lucky enough to have a high performing teacher will progress through the material three times faster than those with a low performing teacher, which is equivalent to one academic year. This is important because once a student starts falling behind it is next to impossible to catch up. An example of a poor performing teacher is Mr. Stroope also from the movie, Chalk. Mr. Stroope is still new to teaching and each scene that we see him in he is working hard at being a buddy to his students. He is determined to win the “Teacher of the Year” award. So compelled is he to win that he takes up valuable class time enlisting his students in his campaign. Unfortunately, we do not see him teach, instead class time is taken bolstering his self esteem. There is a scene where he is coming down on two students who are using too big of words in class, which makes Mr. Stroope uncomfortable because he does not know what they mean. In another scene Mr. Stroope is meeting with a woman in some type of an evaluation. The woman brings up the goals that they had set the last time they met; one of which is lesson planning and the importance of turning in his lesson plans on time. Mr. Stroope does not  appear to take the conversation seriously and they agree to talk about these items again next time. What a disappointment that the students in his class are being subjected to his inability to plan and present a lesson plan and sadder still that no one was truly checking to see how or what he was doing in class. Having someone guiding him through the process in a supportive manner would have made a big difference in his abilities and confidence with an improved outcome for his students. This mentoring relationship could also boost and inspire the mentor by giving them a fresh look at teaching and helping them to feel valued.

  A principle should be looking for supportive ways to encourage their faculty so that they remain inspired and confident, yet all too often they take a passive position. In Chalk the assistant principle is seen doing all of the interacting with the teachers and students. When she goes to the principle for advice, he does not address her issues and offer her any solutions or support. Instead he begins talking about himself, leaving her just as frustrated as before. The lack of interest and leadership provided by the principle created an environment where people were not working to their potentials and were getting really stressed because they did not get the support they needed. Which led to an environment amongst the teachers that was not cohesive.

In contrast we saw Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson who were great teachers without strong, supportive leadership from their principles and colleagues. In both cases, these teachers’ own passion and high expectations propelled them to be great. When Mr. Escalante announced that he wanted to teach calculus to the students, he was met with a great deal of resistance from the head of the math department. Mr. Escalante even very boldly said that if he could not, he would quit. Instead, it was the head of the department who stepped down, because though she was opposed to what he was doing, she recognized that they needed Mr. Escalante as a teacher. With obstacle after obstacle, Mr. Escalante persevered even at the risk of his own health. If he had had a supportive environment where the faculty acted more like a team to bring out their students potentials, a health crisis could have been avoided. Similarly, Ms. Watson taught at a school where the administration was unsupportive of someone who was new and brought fresh ideas to the table because of the entrenched traditions at the school which were so thick that it was nearly impossible to cut into them. The cost of fitting into those traditions was to squelch your own sense of creativity and uniqueness in order to fit into roles that have previously been set. It was in this tension of tradition and own sense of self that Ms. Watson led by example, proving herself a great educator and despite the pressures to conform she remained true to herself. She was an excellent teacher and even though the other faculty began to regard her as such, the alumni board had so much control over the school that it made it impossible for the head of school to make decisions on behalf of the school and allow her to teach with her own style. Though Ms. Watson loved teaching and really cared for her students, after one year at the school she resigned.

Increasing the amount of support that we give new teachers by pairing them with mentors and strong, encouraging principles is the change that I would make to our K-12 educational system. By increasing the amount of support that we give to our teachers to truly be the best they can be, we are increasing the odds of a child being in the classroom with a really great teacher. Those teachers will likely be retained by the school which in turns bolsters the schools ability to effect the community it serves. 

Revised Rough Draft

Lisa Miller

Dr. Sonia Apgar Begert

English 101

19 March 2013

Increase the Support, Increase the Performance

Good, bad or mediocre, with very few exceptions everyone has had an experience in school K-12. Those experiences determine not only what a student learns, but shapes the attitude and relationship that a student has regarding learning and school. A good teacher can be a saving a grace. A beacon that stands out and inspires us to to learn while challenging us to push ourselves to do more than we thought possible. By introducing and opening new worlds to us teachers shape our futures and determine the adults that we become. Yet there are few really great teachers. Increasing the amount of support that we give in the training of new teachers and the sustaining of experienced teachers is the change that I would make to our K-12 educational system.

Beyond the training that a new teacher will have received in order to complete a teaching certificate, a newly hired teacher needs to be paired with one who is more  experienced, who acts as a mentor. No matter how naturally gifted one might be, having someone there to talk to who has been in the trenches would be of value. Teachers may start off with great enthusiasm for teaching, yet fifty percent quite within the first three years of teaching (Chalk). Creating a mentoring program that effectively trains and supports a new teacher could prove to be invaluable in creating great teachers and retaining them. Being paired up with a mentor and teaching either a reduced load and/or co-teaching with a more experienced teacher would allow the new teacher to learn the ropes of classroom management while being able to observe that teacher and have daily access to feedback.  Dan Brown argues that “great teachers can’t be built without seeing others in action”. In the movie, Chalk, we see a great example of this in the history teacher, Mr. Lowry, where we observe him in his first year teaching. Mr. Lowry had recently been divorced and though he had a career as a computer engineer, he evaluated his career and made a change. After taking two different aptitude tests that indicated teaching might be a good fit, he pursued a new career as a teacher. Though we are not told of the process that he underwent to get a teaching job, through observing him in the classroom we can guess that there was little classroom management training. He was unprepared to teach and as such he was miserable and made his students miserable. It was not until he himself went to the library and checked out a book on classroom management did the situation in his classroom begin to improve, yet the student teacher relationship had already been damaged. Sadly, he also received good advice from one of the mothers of a student in his class which also seemed to make a difference, but this advice should have come from a mentor at the school. 

In addition to classroom management, a mentor would provide a new teacher with advice on lesson planning. A statistic that is presented in the movie, Waiting For Superman, is that a bad teacher will cover only fifty percent of the curriculum whereas a good teacher is able to cover one hundred and fifty percent. Which means that students who are lucky enough to have a high performing teacher will progress through the material three times faster than those with a low performing teacher, which is equivalent to one academic year. This is important because once a student starts falling behind it is next to impossible to catch up. An example of a poor performing teacher is Mr. Stroope also from the movie, Chalk. Mr. Stroope is still new to teaching and each scene that we see him in he is working hard at being a buddy to his students. He is determined to win the “Teacher of the Year” award. So compelled is he to win that he takes up valuable class time enlisting his students in his campaign. Unfortunately, we do not see him teach, instead class time is taken bolstering his self esteem. There is a scene where he is coming down on two students who are using too big of words in class, which makes Mr. Stroope uncomfortable because he does not know what they mean. In another scene Mr. Stroope is meeting with a woman in some type of an evaluation. The woman brings up the goals that they had set the last time they met; one of which is lesson planning and the importance of turning in his lesson plans on time. Mr. Stroope does not  appear to take the conversation seriously and they agree to talk about these items again next time. What a disappointment that the students in his class are being subjected to his inability to plan and present a lesson plan and sadder still that no one was truly checking to see how or what he was doing in class. Having someone guiding him through the process in a supportive manner would have made a big difference in his abilities and confidence and improved the outcome for his students. This mentoring relationship could also boost and inspire the mentor by giving them a fresh look at teaching and helping them to feel valued.

  A principle should be looking for supportive ways to encourage their faculty so that they remain inspired and confident, yet all too often they take a passive position. In Chalk the assistant principle is seen doing all of the interacting with the teachers and students. When she goes to the principle for advice, he does not address her issues and offer her any solutions or support. Instead he begins talking about himself, leaving her just as frustrated as before. The lack of interest and leadership provided by the principle created an environment where people were not working to their potentials and were getting really stressed because they did not get the support they needed. Another example from the movie Chalk that shows a lack of leadership is when the , the P.E. teacher, Ms. Webb began acting as the overseer of the other teachers and began pointing out what they were doing wrong instead of acting as a team member and working together. 

As we saw in the cases of Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson, it is possible to be a great teacher without leadership and support from a principle and colleagues. In both cases, these teachers own passion and high expectations propelled them to be great. When Mr. Escalante announced that he wanted to teach calculus to the students, he was met with a great deal of resistance from the head of the math department. Mr. Escalante even very boldly said that if he could not, he would quit. It was the head of the department who stepped down instead because, though she was opposed to what he was doing, she recognized that they needed Mr. Escalante as a teacher. With obstacle after obstacle, Mr. Escalante persevered even at the risk of his own health. Similarly, Ms. Watson stepped into a teaching job at school where the traditions of the school were so thick that it was nearly impossible to cut into them. The cost of fitting into those traditions was to squelch your own sense of creativity and uniqueness in order to fit into roles that have previously been set and expectations that have nothing to do with your own hopes, dreams, or abilities. In the tension of tradition and expectation, Ms. Watson led by example, proving herself a great educator and mentor, but because she was true to herself, she resigned at the end of the year. She was an excellent teacher and even though the other faculty began to regard her as such, the alumni board had so much control over the school that it made it impossible for the head of school to make decisions on behalf of the school. 

Increasing the amount of support that we give in the training of new teachers and the sustaining of experienced teachers is the change that I would make to our K-12 educational system. By increasing the amount of support that we give to our teachers to truly be the best they can be, we are increasing the odds of a child being in the classroom with a really great teacher. Those teachers will likely be retained by the school which in turns bolsters the schools ability to effect the community it serves. 

Rough, Rough Draft

Good, bad or mediocre, with very few exceptions everyone has had an experience in school K-12. Those experiences determine not only what a student learns, but shapes the attitude and relationship that a student has regarding learning and school. A good teacher can be a saving a grace. A beacon that stands out and inspires us to to learn while challenging us to push ourselves to do more than we thought possible. By introducing and opening new worlds to us teachers shape our futures and many times determine the outcome of the adults that we become.  Yet there are few really great teachers. Increasing the amount of support that we give in the training of new teachers and the sustaining of experienced teachers is the change that I would make to our K-12 educational system.

Beyond the training that a new teacher will have received in order to complete a teaching certificate, a newly hired teacher needs to be paired with a more experienced teacher who acts as a mentor. No matter how naturally gifted one might be, having someone there to talk to who has been in the tranches would be of value. Teachers may start off with great enthusiasm for teaching, yet fifty percent quite within the first three years of teaching (Chalk). Creating a mentoring program that effectively trains and supports a new teacher could prove to be invaluable in creating great teachers and retaining them. Being paired up with a mentor and teaching either a reduced load and/or co-teaching with a more experienced teacher would allow the new teacher to learn the ropes of classroom management while being able to observe that teacher and have daily access to feedback.  Dan Brown argues that “great teachers can’t be built without seeing others in action”. In the movie, Chalk, we see a great example of this in the history teacher, Mr. Lowry, where we observe him in his first year teaching. Mr. Lowry had recently been divorced and though he had a career as a computer engineer, he evaluated his career and made a change. After taking two different aptitude tests that indicated teaching might be a good fit, he pursued a new career as a teacher. Though we are not told of the process that he underwent to get a teaching job, through observing him in the classroom we can guess that there was little classroom management training. He was unprepared to teach and as such he was miserable and made his students miserable. It was not until he himself went to the library and checked out a book on classroom management did the situation in his classroom begin to improve, yet the student teacher relationship had already been damaged. Sadly, he also received good advice from one of the mothers of a student in his class which also seemed to make a difference, but this advice should have come from a mentor at the school. 

In addition to classroom management, a mentor would provide a new teacher with advice on lesson planning. A statistic that is presented in the movie, Waiting For Superman, is that a bad teacher will cover only fifty percent of the curriculum whereas a good teacher is able to cover one hundred and fifty percent. Which means that students who are lucky enough to have a high performing teacher will progress through the material three times faster than those with a low performing teacher, which is equivalent to one academic year. This is important because once a student starts falling behind it is next to impossible to catch up. An example of a poor performing teacher is Mr. Stroope also from the movie, Chalk. Mr. Stroope is still new to teaching and each scene that we see him in he is working hard at being a buddy to his students. He is determined to win the “Teacher of the Year” award. So compelled is he to win that he takes up valuable class time enlisting his students in his campaign. Unfortunately, we do not see him teach, instead class time is taken bolstering his self esteem. There is a scene where he is coming down on two students who are using too big of words in class, which makes Mr. Stroope uncomfortable because he does not know what they mean. In another scene Mr. Stroope is meeting with a woman in some type of an evaluation. The woman brings up the goals that they had set the last time they met; one of which is lesson planning and the importance of turning in his lesson plans on time. Mr. Stroope does not  appear to take the conversation seriously and they agree to talk about these items again next time. What a disappointment that the students in his class are being subjected to his inability to plan and present a lesson plan and sadder still that no one was truly checking to see how or what he was doing in class. Having someone guiding him through the process in a supportive manner would have made a big difference in his abilities and confidence and improved the outcome for his students. This mentoring relationship could also boost and inspire the mentor by giving them a fresh look at teaching and helping them to feel valued.

A principle who is a supportive and strong leader and a faculty that has a supportive, team approach are also imperative in the development of great teachers (Brown).  A principle should be looking for supportive ways to encourage their faculty so that they remain inspired and confident, yet all too often they take a passive position. In Chalk the assistant principle is seen doing all of the interacting with the teachers and students. When she goes to the principle for advice, he does not address her issues and offer her any solutions or support. Instead he begins talking about himself, leaving her just as frustrated as before. The lack of interest and leadership provided by the principle created an environment where people were not working to their potentials and were getting really stressed because they did not get the support they needed. Due to the lack of leadership, the P.E. teacher, Ms. Webb began acting as the overseer of the other teachers and began pointing out what they were doing wrong instead of acting as a team member and working together. 

As we saw in the cases of Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson, it is possible to be a great teacher without leadership and support from a principle and colleagues. In both cases, these teachers own passion and high expectations propelled them to be great. When Mr. Escalante announced that he wanted to teach calculus to the students, he was met with a great deal of resistance from the head of the math department. Mr. Escalante even very boldly said that if he could not, he would quite. It was the head of the department who stepped down instead because, though she was opposed to what he was doing, she recognized that they needed Mr. Escalante as a teacher. With obstacle after obstacle, Mr. Escalante persevered even at the risk of his own health. Similarly, Ms. Watson stepped into a teaching job at school where the traditions of the school were so thick that it was nearly impossible to cut into them. The cost of fitting into those traditions was to squelch your own sense of creativity and uniqueness in order to fit into roles that have previously been set and expectations that have nothing to do with your own hopes, dreams, or abilities. In the tension of tradition and expectation, Ms. Watson led by example, proving herself a great educator and mentor, but because she was true to herself, she resigned at the end of the year. She was an excellent teacher and even though the other faculty began to regard her as such, the alumni board had so much control over the school that it made it impossible for the head of school to make decisions on behalf of the school. 

Increasing the amount of support that we give in the training of new teachers and the sustaining of experienced teachers is the change that I would make to our K-12 educational system. By increasing the amount of support that we give to our teachers to truly be the best they can be, we are in creasing the odds of a child being in the classroom with a really great teacher. Those teachers will likely be retained by the school which in turns bolsters the schools ability to effect the community it serves. 

Banking Concept

At first I was struggling with this piece and I needed to read it twice to really get it. It makes sense. I see this banking concept in a lot of pieces that we have covered this quarter. In the movie Waiting for Superman there was a little animated bit that showed a teacher opening the tops of kids heads and pouring "information" into them, that image kept coming to mind as I read this. Students in Ms. Watson's class were quite used to the "Banking Concept" they were told what something was, memorized and were able to spit the information back out. Ms. Watson asked them to think for themselves and explore their own reactions and listen to the explorations of their classmates and in this way that were learning. Yet those explorations moved them away from the expectations of the institution where it was more valued for "the educated man to the the adapted man, because he is a better fit..." This type of teaching minimizes a students creativity or as Sir Ken Robinson says, "we are educating people out of their creativity". Freire recommends instead a problem posing method which has the teachers and student learning from each other in ways that relate themselves to world and are then inspired and act in accordance to that inspiration. Which is probably why the program in Tucson was so successful, the students could relate to the material, they were inspired and wanted more.

Most important change

After watching Waiting for Superman, I think that the most important change that K-12 education needs is a change in administration. Good teachers are crucial to a students' successful education, but based on the movies that we have seen and the articles that we have reviewed, I do not see that teachers are given the training that they need to do their jobs properly. Having some sort of a mentoring system in place would allow teachers to get their legs so to speak and be trained by someone more experienced. I think this would not only help the new teacher more quickly become a good teacher and hopefully stick with teaching, but it could also breathe new life into the more experienced teacher as well. In this change in administration I would also change how teachers retain their positions and when they receive tenure. I really liked Michelle Rhee's idea of having merit bonuses. It seems that there are too many people in positions that are making decisions for education, so I would limit the number of people who are a part of that administration process. It is disappointing to see how easily decisions are made concerning particular programs or with curriculum depending on the whims of the powers that be. We saw this in Mona Lisa Smile with the alumni board and their influence in the keeping of Ms. Watson. We saw this in Stand and Deliver when the there was virtually no support for Mr. Escalante and his vision; he worked over and above on his own. In the article by Gilyard and the NEA article we read about successful programs being cut by a lacking of funding and one under the influence of those who really knew nothing about the program. It seems that everyone involved in education has an agenda about education and there does not seem to be an agreed upon goal that we are all working towards and in the case of No Child Left Behind there is no clear process as to how to achieve this goal. There needs to be better leadership.

Waiting for Superman Notes

• In the opening Geoffrey Canada is talking about his disappointment about Superman not being real. That there really was no one strong and powerful coming to save them. 
• We send our kids to school wanting to believe in the schools.
• Fear of sending kids to public schools that are failing.
• It lucky when a person can make a choice as to which school they send their child to.
• When there good public schools available, the space is often limited and enrollment is determined by a lottery system
• Anthony--a boy who repeated second grade. Had hard time. His dad died--took drugs. Grandma took him in
• Daisy has a sweet little voice. She is very driven and determined. Has big goals. Wants to be a nurse, doctor or vet so that she can help people in need. She read about these in the library. When she is asked about kids who say that school is boring she says that the student should pay attention instead of being bored and figure out a way to make learning fun. Her father is jobless.
• Old clip--good schools. What does it mean? Need more info. Need a committee. 
• Lots of presidents say that they want to make education a priority
• In 1971 we spent $4,300 to educate a student per year. Today it is $9,000 (figure takes into account inflation--real number) = 2x as much. Are we getting 2x as much in return? 
• Francisco's mom describes her childrens' school, you can't go further than the front door. There is a security guard. The school is the 3rd largest in the Bronx.
• Bianca's mom wants daughter to go to college and have a career not just a job. Recognizes the importance of education to daughter's future. Single mom works very hard to ensure that this happens.
• Bush and Kennedy-no child left behind. Republicans and Democrats unite. Measure students through standardized tests.
• 20-25% of students at reading grade level across the country.
• Btwn 5th and 7th grades huge number of students, minorities in particular, go from being "B" students to "D' students.
• Daisy's dad dropped out of school in order to work and help provide for the family. 
• In CA 40% of the students do not graduate. Schools that are "Drop out Factories". There are over 2 thousand of these. Kids are pushed to them.
• "millions of kids walking the streets with no vested interest in living"
• Experts blame failing schools on failing neighborhoods. Now starting to think the opposite.
• 60% of the inmates in penitentiary are drop outs
• Jay Matthews 
• Sousa is an academic sink hole. 5 yrs behind.
• Michelle Rhees. 7th superintendent in 10 years in DC
• Federal standards, State standards and local district standards.
• Jon Alter--the things that we have set up to help are now actually the problem. The Blob
• Rhees--too little accountability to produce results for kids.
• Fransico is a 1st grader. Not good teachers. Mom says that she has the feeling of why, why, why, why, why bother We're stuck
• Difference between good and bad teacher is one academic yar. Bad teacher covers only 50% of the curriculum while a good teacher can cover 150%.
• Very difficult to fire teachers. They get automatic tenure after two years. Unions to thank for this. They started to help teachers who primarily women earn a fair wage. Which was a good thing at the time. 
• The democrats are 90% owned by teachers.
• "P" pap (the disciplinary process) is very confusing and if a single date is missed it can be subject to a grievance
• The biggest obstacle to reform is the teachers contract.
• Dance of the lemons-- principles swap out bad teachers for other bad teachers hoping that something will change. 
• A teacher that is tenured in NY and not living up to expectations is submitted to the reassignment process. This process can take a long time and they collect full benefits while waiting. These hearings cost 100 million a year. This does not even account for a teacher that is just an ok teacher. Geoffrey Canada started the charter school int he worst neighborhood. Public school with public school $.
• PBS "Learning Matters"
• There are better schools, but you need to know options. 1960's magnet schools. 1990's charter schools.Education used to be the way out of a bad neighborhood until 1970
• 40-50 years ago we led the world in education.
• We have fallen behind every area around the world except confidence. We are the most confident
• Tracking--kids get in track to high average and low. This determines their futures. When you are in a track it is next to impossible to get out of that track into a higher one. They get behind and it's impossible to catch up.
• In CA, the top 1/3 of the kids for the the UC schools
• Tracking 20% to college, 20% to vocational schools and the rest ?
• Our schools haven't changes, but the world around has. Now every student should have a college education. 
• 123 million jobs high skill and high pay, but only 50 million qualified people.
• Charters are sending students to college
• Because of teacher contracts, we can not model all public schools after the charter schools.
• $, laws, latests reforms. You can't have a great school without a great teacher.
• Nothing will change with tenure.
• Now that we know that it is possible, what is our obligation?
• Make kids believe again that education is a way out.
• Our system is broken. It seems impossible. It can't wait
• 
  

Gilyard and Arts and Humanities

Both of the articles that we read, Children, Arts and Du Bois and Arizona Ban Mexican American Studies Program, speak of programs that were in place enhancing students learning but were each cut for different reasons. The first program was an after school humanities program for elementary school children and was cut due to a lack of funding. The second program was a Mexican American Studies program that for high school students in a Tucson, Arizona that "presented material from the perspectives and experience of Chicanos as well as from other ethnic and cultural groups". The program was very successful; measured by the higher retention and graduation rates among Mexican Americans". This program was cut because there were people in the district who were afraid that the this curriculum was subversive. They failed to see that by using this curriculum the students were able to connect in with the material which increased their curiosity and compelled them to read, and  improved their critical thinking skills and made them more well rounded. They stayed in school and went on to college. In both of these examples the students were able to connect in and learn material in ways that were meaningful to them, whetting their appetites for more learning. Students who are given the opportunity to explore topics in these ways are able to develop a deeper knowledge and perspective of the topic being studied because they are able to relate to it in a variety of different ways. These articles were important to read when considering topics for our third paper because it gives yet another perspective into the realities of what students, teachers and educational administration all face. Through greater knowledge of the ins and outs of education, we can make educated arguments about a change that we would make in the K-12 curriculum.

Waiting for superman

As we have read articles and watched movies this quarter on education I just feel frustrated. In this last section as we have explored what we might change or add to education I have been particularly frustrated, because the problems just feel so big and unfix able. I think we have seen, in movies and our own lives, the impact of of amazing teachers, but we also have examples of some really poor teachers. The movie, Waiting For Superman, helped me to see more clearly the brokenness of our education system. It is such a shame to think that the very system that was put into place to fairly compensate teachers who were denied a livable wage, is the system that is harming the very people that it is meant to serve; students. Teachers who are good teachers should be paid well. This week I looked up the pay scale for teachers in our state and was saddened to see just how little they earn for the level of education they obtain. Yet, having teachers continue teaching or rather just coasting because they are tenured is sadder still. An education, good or bad, changes the outcome of a childs' life. I did not realize the power of the teachers union and how quickly a teacher was awarded tenure. In all four movies that we have watched, we have witnessed how administration has has been a hinderence to positive change. It is frustrating that change is possible for our kids, but we have so many adults in the way.

Challenges for K-12

The biggest challenge that students K-12 face is their teachers. Watching the movie Chalk I was reminded of the vast array of teacher quality a student is faced with. There are teachers who have a lot enthusiasm and desire to connect with their students, but as was the case with Mr. Stroop their motives were to prop up themselves rather than actually teach. He had his own interests at heart not the interests of those he was hired to serve. Then there are teachers like Mr. Lowry who get into the track of teaching without really exploring their own motives for wanting to teach. Mr. Lowry had recently been divorced and though he had a career as a computer engineer, there was something in his life that caused him to re-evalute his career and make a change. He took two different aptitude tests that indicated teaching might be a good fit. Though we are not told of the process that he underwent to get a teaching job, through observing him in the classroom we can guess that there was little classroom management training. He was unprepared to teach and as such he was miserable and made the students miserable.
Even though these teachers were poor teachers, I wonder about the administrative process that would allow two really poor teachers to teach. Though we saw Mr. Sroop's evaluation and the woman conducting the evaluation set out some goals to be worked on, he was given no tools to complete those goals. Even though it is the teachers whom the students have the direct contact with, one step behind that is the training and support that a teacher has to be the best they can be. Perhaps the biggest challenge is not the teachers themselves, but the lack of appropriate training and support that the teachers receive.

chalk and paper #3

As I watched the movie, Chalk, I kept thinking of the Dan Brown article that we read earlier in the quarter concerning what makes a good teacher. He suggests training and having a more experienced teacher mentor a new teacher until they get their legs. I already thought that was a good idea and now after watching the movie I whole heartedly agree. No matter how naturally gifted one might be, having someone there to talk to who has been in the tranches for some time would be of value. Mr Brown also spoke of the importance of supportive peers and good sound leadership from administration. Chalk really highlights the importance of all these elements.
It seems that training teachers through mentoring would help the teacher, student and adminstration. The teacher would be more prepared and feel more confident and hopefully have a better experience. That happier teacher stays teaching longer represents less change for the administration and hopefully less damage control for having had a poor teacher. The students win because they have a good teacher who develops a history at the school; they are consistent.

Chalk Notes

• What the movie is about--How important teachers are.
• 50% of teachers quite teaching in the first threes years of teaching.
• The history teacher (Mr Lowry) has no umph, totally dry. He starts the year off by letting the students know that they will need to come prepared. Which means that they will always need to bring paper and pencil. This is the only rule.
• He tries to give a lesson, but it is really dry and choppy. It's horrible. He looses the students right away.
• Principle does not offer any relevant or constructive advise to his assistant principle. Talks about himself.
• Teachers in the lounge eating and talking about their educational weaknesses.
• Mr. Stroop, the other history teacher. It is his third year teaching. He is a having an evaluation. He has difficulty recalling the goals that they had set at his last evaluation. You can tell that he does not take this seriously. His goals are: 1) use less sarcasm, 2) be more organized, 3) his cleanliness, 4) write and follow a lesson plan. 
• Mr. Lowry's class is out of control
• Mr Stroop has poor boundaries in regard to how to have a relationship with the students.
• Mr. Lowry had been working as a computer engineer, we are not told whether or not he has had any teacher training (it seems like no). He became a teacher because he took two different aptitude tests that suggested teaching was a good fit for him.
• Mr. Strrop is talking to an older teacher who has one the prize for best teacher. He asks what you need to do to win. She responds, focus on the students not on the prize.
• Mr. Lowry seems lost. Awkward with students and teachers.
• Ms. Webb confronts a teacher for letting kids in late. Though she is good with her students, she is very abrasive with the staff. She is exited that her friend is now the assistant principle because she is hoping that will translate into an "in" for her. She is a bit of a control freak. She has the idea to make the students think they are who they think you think they are.
• Mr. Lowry is totally stressed and unprepared to deal with students.
• Assistant principle is really stressed. She is doing a ton. working early and late and on weekends. Her personal life is suffering.
• Mr. Stroop asks the smart kids to dumb down.
• Mr. Lowry goes to the library and checks out a book on classroom management.
• Stroop pretends to call a students father.
• Mr. Lowry has a very angry outburst. He is out of control. He kicks a kid out of class. He goes to the kids house to talk to the mother. He and the mother have some wine and a talk. We don't hear the whole conversation, but it appears that she helps him with some things.
• Ms. Webb and Ass. Principle fight over the tardy policy. Ms. Webb is a stickler for the rules. Ass. Principle says that yes sometimes kids are late. They don't bust them all because you never know all of the details of what is going on for the kid and teacher.
• Stroop is soliciting cotes for teacher of the year and asking his students to campaign for him. There is a debate. It all seems inappropriate. His passions seem a little misplaced. He does not care about teaching, he cares about himself. When he looses the teacher award, he has a tantrum. 
• The teachers all seem to have a lot of personal issues that are keeping them from fully engaging as teachers.
• Ass. Principle loves teaching, but she has been moved to administration.
• Mr. Lowry develops the spelling Hornet which is a contest for the teachers to spell the slang terms that the kids use everyday. Teachers are not that great at it, but seem to enjoy it. The students love it. Mr. Lowry wins and he seems to loosen up and feel really great. He begins to mellow out and be ok. Says that IF he comes back next year he would set things up differently.
• Ms. Webb says that people are insecure and that maybe she should be more encouraging of her fellow teachers.
• Mr. Lowry says, "teaching is a gift, maybe he can learn but nobody has taught him"
• 
  

WS 48 and 49

In the assignment for our third paper, we are being asked to argue for something that we would like to add to education or something that we would like to change about education. After watching the movies "Chalk" and "Waiting for Superman" we will need to identify or classify the problems that are shown. We will use material from five of the sources that we have read or watched this quarter to form a clear argument for how we would go about making the problem better. We can use classification to organize or highlight the points we will be focusing on. Once we have the points, we can use the five materials as sources of those points and then tell how the sources are the same or different in relation to each point.

Black and Rose

Both Lewis Black and Mike Rose make a laundry list of the things that education is not of what they wish it was not. Lewis Black delivers his speech at the beginning of the school year when people are focused on the school year ahead and their hopes for that year, while Mike Rose writes his article as a new years resolution. Both men focus on the structure of our educational system and point out the flaws. For instance, our attentions are focused on education for a very small portion of time, yet the effects of schooling are long lasting. We at times spend millions of dollars on one school campus, yet another stands in disrepair. Charter schools seem to be an improvement over the typical public school, yet only a select number of children will be allowed to attend them. We set up all kinds of testing and protocol to measure how schools are doing, yet we don’t ever truly define what we mean by success or achievement. These tests somehow measure how a teacher and a school or doing, without taking in all of the variables. The people whom we have helping to make the decisions for the direction of education are often not even educators. All of these contradictions and more seem to shape how we do education without addressing the heart of what is actually desired: “to have more young people get an engaging and challenging education”. 

Against School--John Gatto

As I read through the article, Against School by John Gatto, I couldn't help but think of a few of the other articles we have read or talks that we have heard this quarter on education. Gatto and Sir Kenneth Robinson concur that the educational system as we know it was formed in response to the Industrial Revolution because we needed workers to make industry happen. The system we know emphasizes math and language as a measuring stick for how well we are educated and so much of what  happens to us is a result of this weeding out process. Those who are good at math and language, or who are at least good at figuring out the game of school, move through to the top and become the bosses of those who did not fair as well. Yet, that is not a true indicator of intelligence or ability. The way we measure lacks the ability to measure character and creativity. In school we are not educated, we learn how to go to school and conform. 

Also, when Gatto writes about the selective function of schools I thought about the first part of Mike Rose’s article, I just wanna be average, and how the boy just wanted to be average. Gatto uses Inglis’s break down of the purpose of school and states that, “schools are meant to tag the unfit--with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments--clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive process”. Being average you are not at the total inferior bottom, but you do not have the pressures of being at the top. 

Mentors: Passion, Expectations and Personal Interest

Lisa Miller

Dr. Sonia Apgar Begert

English 101 

26 February 2013

Mentors:  Passion, Expectation and Personal Interest

Teachers play important roles in the lives of their students. Wearing many hats, they do far more than present a lesson. Over the course of the day a teacher may play the role of educator, ally, confidante, disciplinarian, protector, health expert, counselor or advocate. The teacher who can successfully navigate these roles with passion and high expectations while taking a personal interest in their students sets the stage for a learning environment that allows the teacher to guide or mentor their students. The role of mentor goes beyond teaching a subject, they provide guidance and support while inspiring their students to reach for more than they thought they were capable of. The role of mentor is the most important role a teacher can play in the lives of their students and though Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson teach in very different schools they are both excellent examples of this.

Great teachers are passionate about teaching; they teach because they want to. Though we are not explicitly told why Mr. Escalante chose to teach, we can assume that it was a choice that he made because he had passion to do so. Early in the movie, Mr. Escalante is taking the garbage out to the curbside and while there he visits with a neighbor. The neighbor is surprised to hear that Mr. Escalante is now teaching and surmises that Mr Escalante must have gotten laid off instead of this career change being a choice that he has made. This passion spills over onto his students as he works to draw out their “ganas” or desire. He says to them, “You already have two strikes against you. There are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do, because of your name and your complexion. But math is the great equalizer… You’re gonna work harder than you ever worked before. And the only thing I ask from you is ‘ganas’”. By checking in with them about their “ganas” he was creating an atmosphere where everyone was ready and wanting to learn.

Likewise, Ms. Watson taught because she had a passion for teaching. In the opening voiceover we learn that Katherine Watson had “all her life, wanted to teach at Wellesley College. So, when a position opened in the Art History department, she pursued it single-mindedly until she was hired.” Ms. Watson came to Wellesley because it was the top women’s college in the nation, she wanted to be a part of an institution that turned out tomorrow’s leaders. She came to Wellesley because she wanted to make a difference. However,  her first day was a disaster. She introduces herself and the syllabus and begins to show the slides of pieces of art. As she does, in turn, the girls call out the name of the piece and it’s importance without being called upon. They had very smugly showed that they had done the reading, memorized the details and were able of regurgitating the information. By doing so they had rudely taken over the class. The following day, she surprises them with a whole new plan. She introduces art work that is not on the syllabus and asks the girls to look at the piece and consider it without knowing anything about it. In this way she regains control and begins to teach them to think for themselves. She asks them to “look beyond the paint” and “let us try to open our minds to a new idea”. At first the girls are frustrated by this and are not really sure of what she is asking of them, but as the year wears on they begin to dig in and consider new ideas and have meaty discussions about art and what they think. As word gets out about Ms. Watson and her class, interest is generated and a demand develops for her class the following year. 

Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson both have high expectations of their students, yet their expectations are in conflict with the expectations of the schools where they teach and the student’s parents. Mr Escalante teaches high school math at a barrio school in East Los Angeles where the students are not expected to be high academic performers. It seems that the only expectations for the students is that they would finish high school and go on to get a service type job. It is quite shocking for them to have a teacher like Mr. Escalante who sets up the structure of the class and makes it clear that if you come to class, you come prepared and you participate; no exceptions. By establishing this type of structure in the class, the students begin to learn and develop confidence. On a field trip he takes his students to some type of plant where his neighbor works, there are computers everywhere and the kids are enthusiastic. There he learns that his neighbor’s daughter is using a computer program at her school to learn calculus, which gives him the idea to teach calculus to his students.  When he lets the head of the math department know his intentions, she objects because she thinks that he is creating a situation where the students will only be disappointed and their hard work will be for naught.  His response is that “they will rise to the level of expectation”. He figures out a schedule that will bring the students to the level they need to be at to take the AP calculus exam. His doing so creates tension amongst himself and the faculty. This also challenges the expectations of the students parents. One girl’s mother questions why she would do this because, after all, “boys don’t like you if you are too smart”. 

Ms. Watson’s expectations for the girls also collided with those of the faculty and the students’ parents. Wellesley College accepted only the brightest young women in the nation and had very strong sense of tradition that connected the current students to those who had gone to Wellesley before; this was a very elite group of women. Yet, these traditions came with a cost.The cost of fitting into those traditions is to squelch your own sense of creativity and uniqueness in order to fit into roles that have previously been set and expectations that have nothing to do with your own hopes and dreams. Joan’s editorial of Ms. Watson made it very clear that by challenging the girls to look beyond and consider something new, she was “disregarding the roles they (the girls) were born to fulfill”. In this case, these roles were to marry and be housewives versus to further their own educations and have careers of their own. It is in this tension of tradition and expectation that Ms. Watson led by example, proving herself a great educator and mentor who was true to herself and compelled others to look beyond:  “To seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image”.  In this way she made the difference that she had sought to make when she arrived at Wellesley.

By taking a personal interest in their students, both Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson create a relationship of trust. When Mr. Escalante learns that one of his brightest students, Anna, will be dropping out of school to work in her families’ restaurant, he goes to the restaurant and petitions her father to allow her to stay. Mr. Escalante convinces him that Anna is smart and that after completing high school and going to college she will be of greater help to him than any work that she could do for him at this time. In the end, Anna received a 4 on the AP calculus exam and was making plans to go to college, the first person in her family to do so. Similarly, Ms. Watson goes the extra mile when she learns that Joan is interested in going to Yale Law school by getting her an application and helping her to fill it out. Though Joan was accepted, she chose not to go, but to marry instead. Knowing that Ms. Watson believed in her and giving her the courage to apply to Yale meant a great deal to her. Even though she still chose to take the path that had been laid out for her, she closely looked at and considered another option before making her final decision, something that she would not have done had it not been for Ms. Watson. 

Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson are two teachers who are excellent of examples of the most important role that teachers play in the lives of the their students; the role of mentor. Both teachers have passion, high expectations as well as a willingness to be personally involved in the lives of their students. More than just teaching a particular subject, teachers who are mentors teach their students about life and challenge them to be the best they can be.

Rough Draft #2 Paper #2

Teachers play important roles in the lives of their students. Wearing many hats, they do far more than present a lesson. Over the course of the day a teacher may play the role of educator, ally, confidante, disciplinarian, protector, health expert, counselor or advocate. The teacher who can successfully navigate these roles with passion and high expectations while taking a personal interest in their students sets the stage for a learning environment that allows the teacher to guide or mentor their students. The role of mentor goes beyond teaching a subject, they provide guidance and support while inspiring their students to reach for more than they thought they were capable of. The role of mentor is the most important role a teacher can play in the lives of their students and though Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson teach in very different schools they are both excellent examples of this.

Great teachers are passionate about teaching; they teach because they want to teach. Though we are not explicitly told why Mr. Escalante chose to teach, we can assume that it was a choice that he made because he had passion to do so. Early in the movie, Mr. Escalante is taking the garbage out to the curbside and while there he visits with a neighbor. The neighbor is surprised to hear that Mr. Escalante is now teaching and surmises that Mr Escalante must have gotten laid off instead of this career change being a choice that he has made. This passion spills over onto his students as he works to draw out their ganas or desire. He says to them, “You already have two strikes against you. There are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do, because of your name and your complexion. But math is the great equalizer… You’re gonna work harder than you ever worked before. And the only thing I ask from you is ganas.” By checking in with them about their ganas he was creating an atmosphere where everyone was ready and wanting to learn.

Likewise, Ms. Watson taught because she had a passion for teaching. In the opening voiceover we learn that Katherine Watson had “all her life, wanted to teach at Wellesley College. So, when a position opened in the Art History department, she pursued it single-mindedly until she was hired.” Ms. Watson came to Wellesley because it was the top women’s college in the nation, she wanted to be apart of an institution that turned out tomorrow’s leaders. She came to Wellesley because she wanted to make a difference. However,  her first day was a disaster. She introduces herself and the syllabus and begins to show the slides of pieces of art. As she does, in turn, the girls call out the name of the piece and it’s importance without being called upon. They had very smugly showed that they had done the reading, memorized the details and were able of regurgitating the information. By doing so they had rudely taken over the class. The following day, she surprises them with a whole new plan. She introduces art work that is not on the syllabus and asks the girls to look at the piece and consider it without knowing anything about it. In this way she regains control and begins to teach them to think for themselves. She asks them to “look beyond the paint” and “let us try to open our minds to a new idea”. At first the girls are frustrated by this and are not really sure of what she is asking of them, but as the year wears on they begin to dig in and consider new ideas and have meaty discussions about art and what they think. As word gets out about Ms. Watson and her class, interest is generated and a demand develops for her class the following year. 

Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson both have high expectations of their students, yet their expectations are in conflict with the expectations of the schools where they teach and the student’s parents. Mr Escalante teaches high school math at a barrio school in East Los Angeles where the students are not expected to be high academic performers. It seems that the only expectations for the students is that they would finish high school and go on to get a service type job. It is quite shocking for them to have a teacher like Mr. Escalante who sets up the structure of the class and makes it clear that if you come to class, you come prepared and you participate; no exceptions. By establishing this type of structure in the class, the students begin to learn and develop confidence. On a field trip he takes his students to some type of plant where his neighbor works, there are computers everywhere and the kids are enthusiastic. There he learns that his neighbor’s daughter is using a computer program at her school to learn calculus, which gives him the idea to teach calculus to his students.  When he lets the head of the math department know his intentions, she objects because she thinks that he is creating a situation where the students will only be disappointed and their hard work will be for naught.  His response is that “they will rise to the level of expectation”. He figures out a schedule that will bring the students to the level they need to be at to take the AP calculus exam. His doing so creates tension amongst himself and the faculty. This also challenges the expectations of the students parents. One girl’s mother questions why she would do this because, after all, “boys don’t like you if you are too smart”. 

Ms. Watson’s expectations for the girls also collided with those of the faculty and the students’ parents. Wellesley College accepted only the brightest young women in the nation and had very strong sense of tradition that connected the current students to those who had gone to Wellesley before; this was a very elite group of women. Yet, these traditions came with a cost.The cost of fitting into those traditions is to squelch your own sense of creativity and uniqueness in order to fit into roles that have previously been set and expectations that have nothing to do with your own hopes and dreams. Joan’s editorial of Ms. Watson made it very clear that by challenging the girls to look beyond and consider something new, she was “disregarding the roles they (the girls) were born to fulfill”. In this case, these roles were to marry and be housewives versus to further their own educations and have careers of their own. It is in this tension of tradition and expectation that Ms. Watson led by example, proving herself a great educator and mentor who was true to herself and compelled others to look beyond:  “To seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image”.  In this way she made the difference that she had sought to make when she arrived at Wellesley.

By taking a personal interest in their students, both Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson create a relationship of trust. When Mr. Escalante learns that one of his brightest students, Anna, will be dropping out of school to work in her families’ restaurant, he goes to the restaurant and petitions her father to allow her to stay. Mr. Escalante convinces him that Anna is smart and that after completing high school and going to college she will be of greater help to him than any work that she could do for him at this time. In the end, Anna received a 4 on the AP calculus exam and was making plans to go to college, the first person in her family to do so. Similarly, Ms. Watson goes the extra mile when she learns that Joan is interested in going to Yale Law school by getting her an application and helping her to fill it out. Though Joan was accepted, she chose not to go, but to marry instead. Knowing that Ms. Watson believed in her and giving her the courage to apply to Yale meant a great deal to her. Even though she still chose to take the path that had been laid out for her, she closely looked at and considered another option before making her final decision, something that she would not have done had it not been for Ms. Watson. 

Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson are two teachers who are excellent of examples of the most important role that teachers play in the lives of the their students; the role of mentor. Both teachers have passion, high expectations as well as a willingness to be personally involved in the lives of their students. More than just teaching a particular subject, teachers who are mentors teach their students about life and challenge them to be the best they can be.

first rough draft and point by point format

Teachers play important roles in the lives of their students. Wearing many hats, they do far more than present a lesson. Over the course of the day a teacher may play the role of educator, ally, confidante, disciplinarian, protector, health expert, counselor or advocate. The teacher who can successfully navigate these roles with passion and high expectations while taking a personal interest in their students sets the stage for a learning environment that allows the teacher to guide or mentor their students. The role of mentor goes beyond teaching a subject, they teach life skills and lessons while inspiring their students to reach for more than they thought they were capable of. The role of a mentor is the most important role a teacher can play in the lives of their students and Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson are excellent examples of great mentors.

Great teachers are passionate about teaching; they teach because they want to teach. Though we are not explicitly told why Mr. Escalante chose to teach, we can assume that it was a choice that he made because he had passion to do so. Early in the movie, Mr. Escalante is taking the garbage out to the curbside and while there he visits with a neighbor. The neighbor is surprised to hear that Mr. Escalante is now teaching and surmises that Mr Escalante must have gotten laid off instead of this career change being a choice that he has made. This passion spills over onto his students as he works to draw out their ganas or desire. He says to them, “You already have two strikes against you. There are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do, because of your name and your complexion. But math is the great equalizer… You’re gonna work harder than you ever worked before. And the only thing I ask from you is ganas.” By checking in with them about their ganas he was creating an atmosphere where everyone was ready and wanting to learn.

Likewise, Ms. Watson taught because she had a passion for teaching. In the opening voiceover we learn that Katherine Watson had “all her life, wanted to teach at Wellesley College. So, when a position opened in the Art History department, she pursued it single-mindedly until she was hired.” Ms. Watson came to Wellesley because it was the top women’s college in the nation, she wanted to be apart of an institution that turned out tomorrow’s leaders. She came to Wellesley because she wanted to make a difference. However,  her first day was a disaster. She introduces herself and the syllabus that she will be following. As she begins to show the slides the girls one by one call out the name of the piece and it’s importance without having been called upon by Ms. Watson. In other words, they took over the class. The girls had already read the required reading and memorized the information because they were in the habit of regurgitating information. The following day she comes back to class with a whole new plan. She introduces art work that is not on the syllabus and asks the girls to look at the piece and consider it without knowing anything about it. In this way she regains control and begins to teach them to think for themselves. She asks them to “look beyond the paint” and “let us try to open our minds to a new idea”. At first the girls are frustrated by this and are not really sure of what she is asking of them, but as the year wears on they begin to dig in and consider things that they had not consider before. By the end of the year they are having meaty discussions about art and what they think. As word gets out about Ms. Watson and her class, interest is generated and a demand develops for her class the following year. 

Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson both have high expectations of their students, yet their expectations are in conflict with the expectations of the schools where they teach and the student’s parents. Mr Escalante teaches at a barrio school in East Los Angeles where the students are not expected to be high academic performers. It seems that the only expectations for the students is that they would finish high school and go on to get a service type job. It is quite shocking for them to have a teacher like Mr. Escalante who sets up the structure of the class and makes it clear that if you come to class, you come prepared and you participate; no exceptions. By establishing this type of structure in the class, the students begin to learn and develop confidence. On a field trip he takes his students to some type of plant where his neighbor works, there are computers everywhere and the kids are enthusiastic. There he learns that his neighbor’s daughter is using a computer program at her school to learn calculus, which gives him the idea to teach calculus to his students.  When he lets the head of the math department know his intentions, she objects because she thinks that he is creating a situation where the students will only be disappointed and their hard work will be for naught.  His response is that “they will rise to the level of expectation”. He figures out a schedule that if followed will bring the students to the level they would need to be at to take the AP calculus exam. His doing so creates tension amongst himself and the faculty. This also challenges the expectations of the students parents. One girl’s mother questions why she would do this because, after all, “boys don’t like you if you are too smart”. 

Ms. Watson’s expectations for the girls also collided with those of the faculty and the students’ parents. Wellesley was a college that accepted only the brightest young women in the nation and had very strong sense of tradition that connected the current students to those had gone to Wellesley before. This was a very elite group of women. Yet, these traditions came with a cost.The cost of fitting into those  traditions is to squelch your own sense of creativity and uniqueness in order to fit into roles that have previously been set and expectations that have nothing to do with your own hopes and dreams. Joan’s editorial of Ms. Watson made it very clear that by challenging the girls to look beyond and consider something new, she was “disregarding the roles they (the girls) were born to fulfill”. In this case these roles were to marry and be housewives versus to further their own educations and have careers of their own. It is in this tension of tradition and expectation that Ms. Watson led by example, proving herself a great educator and mentor who was true to herself and compelled others to look beyond:  “To seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image”.  In this way she made the difference that she had sought to make when she arrived at Wellesley.

Taking a personal interest in their students and the people they are, both Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson which helps create a relationship of trust. When Mr. Escalante learns that one of his brightest students, Anna, will be dropping out of school to work in her families’ restaurant, he goes to the restaurant and petitions her father to allow her to stay. Mr. Escalante convinces him that Anna is smart and that after completing high school and going to college she will be of greater help to him than any work that she could do for him at this time. In the end, Anna received a 4 on the AP calculus exam and was making plans to go to college, the first person in her family to do so. Similarly, Ms. Watson goes the extra mile when she learns that Joan is interested in going to Yale Law school by getting her an application and helping her to fill it out. Though Joan was accepted, she chose not to go, but to marry instead. Yet knowing that Ms. Watson believed in her and giving her the courage to apply to Yale meant a great deal to her. Even though she still chose to take the path that had been laid out for her, she closely looked at and considered another option before making her final decision, something that she would not have done had it not been for Ms. Watson. 

Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson are two teachers who are excellent of examples of the most important role that teachers play in the lives of the their students; the role of mentor. Both teachers have passion, high expectations of themselves and the students as well as a willingness to be personally involved in the lives of their students. More than just teaching a particular subject, teachers who are mentors teach their students about life and challenge them to be the best they can be.