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”.