At first I had been planning on writing a paper on how poetry can be incorperated in schooling, and I had been reading the book Teaching With Fire, yet as I have been writing my exhibition, the topic of this paper has changed as well. Though it isn't finished yet, the paper that I was going to write for this class was also going to be the same as my exhibition. So here's what I've got so far:
Introduction-
In the past, school used to be a place where students would have to memorize endless facts that had no relevance to their daily lives. Assignments consisted of reading textbook pages, memorizing the facts, and then being tested on them, either aloud or on paper. Though they may have good memorization skills, this type of education leaves students frustrated, bored, and disinterested. In order for students to be able to learn, they must be engaged in the material and the process of learning it. The relationship between the teacher and their students is of key importance to the learning process. School should not be a one-sided education, with the teacher talking and the kids being treated as empty boxes to be filled, it should be a process of the students learning from the teacher and the teacher learning from their students. And, in order to learn, teachers must supply their students with the tools that can help them to process the information they’re being taught, and how this information can apply to what they are learning. Instead of teachers trying to shape their students, they must encourage them to learn by inspiring them, providing them with the tools that they need to learn, and to have a relationship with their students that isn’t one-sided. Or Teachers must be inspirational to their students by developing a caring relationship, and to provide them with the tools to help them learn. Or Teachers must develop caring and inspirational relationships with their students, and provide them with the skills to help them learn. Or (I think this one) In order for teachers to successfully engage their students they must develop a relationship which inspires them and to provide the students with the tools to help them learn.
Argument A: Kids must be inspired to learn
In order for students to want to learn, the material that is being taught must be engaging, because: “A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.” (Mann, Horace. Brainy Quotes) If a teacher tries to teach without catching the students’ interest, it is like trying to shape a metal object without heating up the hammer first. Some teachers have that they can lecture their students and shape them into how they want their students to be, yet this is very ineffective. If pupils cannot be engaged in the material that they are being taught, then they get the feeling of boredom and discouragement. There is this problem in some classes where both the teacher and the students are bored, therefore the teacher does not want to teach, and the students do not want to learn. According to John Taylor Gatto, when students are bored they blame what they're learning as the source of their boredom, and when the teachers are bored as well, they blame their students. He feels that when the bells ring, it means to stop what you're doing and whatever you are doing doesn't matter enough to be completed. (Against Schools) Instead of kids looking forward to when the bell rings, they should be engaged in material that they wish to continue even after the bell has sounded. If material has to relevance to their daily lives, then kids will not want to learn it. When teachers help their students to be able to apply the material to their own lives, the process of learning becomes more hopeful.
If students feel like they can contribute something meaningful to their learning process, it can provide them with motivation to learn: “Write what’s on your mind, push yourself to see the letters that represent the words you’re thinking.” (Push, pages 61-62) In Push, by Sapphire, the main character Precious gets kicked out of school for being pregnant, and ends up in a school that is the last resort for students who have gotten kicked out of the regular schools. The teacher, Miss Rain, encourages her students to keep a journal, and to write down their thoughts and feelings. While they are able to write in a place that they feel comfortable to express their ideas, this also helps them to learn how to read and write. At first, her pupils feel like they have nothing to write about, and are not sure how to write for the time that they were assigned to, yet she tells them to write what is on their minds and what they are thinking. Writing in a journal gave the students a chance to express their own ideas, and to be able to interact with their teacher, Miss Rain, because she would respond to what they had written. This student-teacher relationship is an important part of the learning process, and is the difference between teachers just lecturing their students and students being able to influence their teachers.
Argument B: Learning cannot be a one-sided process
In order for students to learn, there must be an environment in which the students can incorporate their insights alongside their teacher’s insights. There are two different types of possible relationships between teachers and their students in school: "teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers." (Pedagogy of The Oppressed, Page 80) The 'teacher-of-the-students' with the 'students-of-the-teacher' is a relationship where the teacher is doing the teaching, and the students are the ones dutifully memorizing what the teacher is saying, and the students are supposed to be learning. This is called the “banking” method of teaching, “in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing their deposits.” (Pedagogy Of The Oppressed, page 72.) The banking method of teaching, where teachers insert knowledge and have their kids memorize it, only allows students to store information without actually being able to process it for themselves. This is very ineffective compared to the idea that teachers and students should work together to process what they know and how this can be applied to themselves and the world around them. Pedagogy of The Oppressed discusses the oppressed -the people being weighed down-, and the oppressor, the figure that is doing the weighing down. The relationship where the teachers and students are learning from each other is much healthier than when the teacher is doing the lecturing and the students are the ones taking notes, because the first relationship has the teachers accepting that the students have actual experiences and insights worth sharing, while the teacher that teaches to be heard treats the students as objects and prevents them from learning. It seems that what As the oppressor, the teacher that is only interested in planting facts in the students', and that the students that are memorizing what the teachers are saying are the oppressed.
There are times where teachers must consider their students, and teach them something useful in life that other teachers may not teach: “I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.. Just when you think you know something, you have to look at it in another way.. don't just consider what the author thinks, consider what you think.” (Dead Poets Society) In the Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams plays a teacher named John Keating, who teaches his students how to see the world in a different way. The school is a white, all boys private school, where most of the teachers are old and stubborn to change their way of teaching. The other teachers don’t consider their students as living things, they consider them as useful parts of a robot machine that they must shape. To these traditional teachers, “knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider know nothing.” (Pedagogy Of The Oppressed, page 72) Usually, in school, it is against the rules for kids to stand on their desks. Yet John Keating encouraged his kids to go outside of the norm, and to find another perspective for themselves. Instead of the kids just processing information that a teacher has given them, the students are allowed to think for themselves and to develop their own ideas. The pupils not only are given the process their own thoughts, it also gives them the feeling that they are as worthy of considering what they think as the authors are. This also keeps them thinking, even after the students feel like they have found a solution. In order for students to thrive, they must feel like the teacher is both making an effort to understand where they come from, and that they’re being seen. In Dead Poets Society John Keating admires his students, and sees the potential in them. He encourages them to express their thoughts, through poetry, and he encourages them to be what they want to be. This is similar to Miss Rain in Push, telling Precious that she can write every day and that she has something to write about. Instead of teachers thinking of their students as inexperienced and uneducated, they must find the potential within their students and find ways to help them incorporate this into their learning experience. In order to be able to learn to think for themselves, teachers must provide their students with the skills that can help them to learn.
(I'm not going to use the quote from the blog, but this is the outline part still)
Argument C: Teachers must provide us with the tools to think, and how to apply them
“In some ways this same collision played out in the 80s and 90s in the US - between E.D. Hirsch & Ted Sizer.
Sizer was a founder and a leading thinker of the Coalition of Essential Schools - which SOF has always been a part of - and focused especially on the student's development of Habits of Mind. Hirsch was widely known for insisting on the crucial role of a thoughtful and coherent core content - so that students would learn the knowledge that would provide building blocks for their understanding.”
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2005/12/21/habits-of-mind/
OPV 1. Schools conform students
Traditionally education has been about teaching facts
-Gatto: schools conform kids and confuse them
-Programming/memorizing
it doesn’t teach them to think for themselves
Dead Poets Society: “Now I didn't bring them up here to ridicule them. I brought them up here to illustrate the point of conformity. The difficulty of maintaining your own beliefs in the face of others.”
John Taylor Gatto-
He believes that schools confuse children, programming them to memorize things that will eventually be forgotten because they have no application to the kids' real lives. That school is like a rigid "cell-block-style" place, that creates boredom and encourages childishness. He feels like school makes students accept their class position: "It teaches them to accept their class affiliation." For example, a poor kid that comes from a bad home may feel like they aren't worth anything and that they can't succeed in life. Or like the girls in books and movies that accept that they must be prom queens and soccer moms. To Gatto, schools make students indifferent to the outside world and their potential. That kids are constantly looking for approval and rewards in school, which can affect them in their lives outside of school. In Andy's words, John Taylor Gatto feels like the best thing to do is to "Get out of school [because] you're turning into a robot".
Some people believe that schools are the right place to send children to, because it keeps them out of the streets and under the watchful eyes of the teacher. It is like babysitting teenagers, so the parents don't have to worry whether or not their kids are okay, because they know where their kids are. Yet Gatto believes that school conforms students into all being the same indifferent, childish, dependent people. This is another way to think of the school system, compared to all those teacher as savior movies.
Another thing that he said is how the students are bored, and blame what they're learning as the source of their boredom, and that the teachers are bored as well, and blame their students. That bells mean stop what you're doing and whatever you are doing doesn't matter enough to be completed. He feels like there are a lot of successful people that thrived outside of the school system, either by being home-schooled or taught outside of school. (Such as 'George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln') This is a different way to think about schools, compared to the philosophers and films that show school as the best place for people to start.
-The Board Of Education
-Board of Ed: Promotion Policy
-Dead Poets Society: Other teachers
“No. Tradition”
-Learning Spanish in school
Works Cited:
-Gatto, John. Against School. 09/2003.
http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm
-Sapphire. Push. Vintage Contemporaries/ Vintage Books. New York City. 1996.
-Dead Poets Society: http://atlas.kennesaw.edu/~phoover/dps.htm
Monday, April 26, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Homework #50, School: Theorists And Teachers/The Principal
John Taylor Gatto- He believes that schools confuse children, programming them to memorize things that will eventually be forgotten because they have no application to the kids' real lives. That school is like a rigid "cell-block-style" place, that creates boredom and encourages childishness. He feels like school makes students accept their class position: "It teaches them to accept their class affiliation." For example, a poor kid that comes from a bad home may feel like they aren't worth anything and that they can't succeed in life. Or like the girls in books and movies that accept that they must be prom queens and soccer moms. To Gatto, schools make students indifferent to the outside world and their potential. That kids are constantly looking for approval and rewards in school, which can affect them in their lives outside of school. In Andy's words, John Taylor Gatto feels like the best thing to do is to "Get out of school [because] you're turning into a robot".
Some people believe that schools are the right place to send children to, because it keeps them out of the streets and under the watchful eyes of the teacher. It is like babysitting teenagers, so the parents don't have to worry whether or not their kids are okay, because they know where their kids are. Yet Gatto believes that school conforms students into all being the same indifferent, childish, dependent people. This is another way to think of the school system, compared to all those teacher as savior movies. Another thing that he said is how the students are bored, and blame what they're learning as the source of their boredom, and that the teachers are bored as well, and blame their students. That bells mean stop what you're doing and whatever you are doing doesn't matter enough to be completed. He feels like there are a lot of successful people that thrived outside of the school system, either by being home-schooled or taught outside of school. (Such as 'George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln') This is a different way to think about schools, compared to the philosophers and films that show school as the best place for people to start.
Paulo Freire-Paulo Freire discusses the banking method of teaching (where teachers insert knowledge and have their kids memorize it) compared to the idea that teachers and students should work together to process what they know and how this can be applied to themselves and the world around them. His book Pedagogy of The Oppressed discusses the oppressed -the people being weighed down-, and the oppressor, the figure that is doing the weighing down. There are two different types of possible relationships between teachers and their students in school: "teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers." (Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of The Oppressed, Page 80) The 'teacher-of-the-students' with the 'students-of-the-teacher' is a relationship where the teacher is doing the teaching, and the students are the ones dutifully memorizing what the teacher is saying and supposed to be learning. While the 'teacher-student' and 'students-teachers' is a relationship where the teachers are learning from their kids, and their kids are learning from their teachers.
The relationship where the teachers and students are learning from each other is much healthier than when the teacher is doing the lecturing and the students are the ones taking notes, because the first relationship has the teachers accepting that the students have actual experiences and insights worth sharing, while the teacher that teaches to be heard treats the students as objects and prevents them from learning. It seems that what Freire is saying is that the teacher that is only interested in planting facts in the students' minds is the oppressor, and that the students that are memorizing what the teachers are saying are the oppressed.
Lisa Delpit- believes that schools should have strategies to be able to teach both the kids that have learned the knowledge that help them to learn other things, as well as schools having to be able to provide that step up for the students who have not been given the information to help them learn. She believes that schools should help those who come from homes that cannot provide the education to prepare them for what's to come in school. One thing that she recommends is that teachers should get to know their students not just as students, but to get a glimpse at how they are outside of school. To speak to people that know them when they aren't in school. She also recommended art, as a way to see "students in a different light, whereas before all they saw was what their children couldn't do". Lisa Delpit is one of those teachers that believe that the teacher should build on how their students as individuals already are, and to incorporate that into what they are being taught. She said how if there is a kid in class that is loud and speaks for themselves, that "teachers can create a curriculum based on strengths rather than weaknesses, then they are teaching to their student's needs." In Andy's words, Delpit thinks we need to change the school so it works for everyone in the school.
This connects to Paulo Freire's theory that teachers should be able to help students thrive. She thinks that instead of teachers just teaching by the book, teachers should understand their students and how they can help individuals learn at their own pace and in their own way. This is also like John Keating in Dead Poets Society, who believes that his students have the potential to do what they feel passionate about and to incorporate that into the process of learning. Both John Keating and Lisa Delpit believe that art should be included in how their students learn. As an artist in a school that provides art class only to students for half the year, and only if they choose it, I wish that our school agreed with these teachers. Having art class as a creative outlet provides another way to think and feel. Yet right now, there is an absence of art in school.
SOF Educator(s) - Our school is an example of a different way to be taught and to teach. Given it's name, it was one of the first schools which had ideas that other schools did not (such as using the Habits Of Mind and The Four Pillars). In especially english and 'history' class, there is no such thing as the oppressor and the oppressed, but that students and teachers can interact with each other as a 'healthy' way to learn. Like a lot of other schools, the teachers and principal have hopes that the school can help its students to become individual and life-long learners. When our principal was being interviewed, he said that he thinks our school "models the student as an individual," and that he hopes that "[teachers have] empowered [us] to advocate for [ourselves] in life" and that "[we] should question everything." He also said that "a perfect education is a life long education. After high school. You should keep learning." During the interview he expressed his hopes that school can help us to become our own individuals, and that we can keep learning for the rest of our lives.
Another hope that teachers have is that their students are able to take what they have been taught, and to process it in their own unique way. For english class we had been reading Hamlet, and after we had finished reading we had an assignment to make films showing our own ideas and versions of Hamlet. And once it was through, Mr. Manley wrote us a letter to thank us: "I forget that, in the end, really I am just so grateful to get to spend this time with you, and I am so thankful to you guys for producing some of the work you do, and sharing some of the insight you have." This is an example of a teacher being affected by his student's work, and grateful that we can share some of what we know.
These interviews have helped me to think about what the principal and our teachers expect out of us. For us to keep learning even after high school, and that we are able to think for ourselves. That there are teachers who appreciate what their students have shared with them, instead of the teachers who don't listen to their kids. This is against John Gatto's idea that schools turn us into robots, and it agrees with Paulo Freire's belief that in order to have a flourishing learning environment it cannot be one-sided.
Resources:
-John Gatto, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_Gatto
-The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher by John Taylor Gatto, New York State Teacher of the Year, 1991, http://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html
-Paulo Freire, Pedagogy Of The Oppressed.
-Lisa Delpit: Interview with Lisa Delpit:
Discovering Brilliance in Our Children, interview with Nile Stanley: http://www.flreads.org/Publications/quarterly/samples/delpit_interview.htm
Some people believe that schools are the right place to send children to, because it keeps them out of the streets and under the watchful eyes of the teacher. It is like babysitting teenagers, so the parents don't have to worry whether or not their kids are okay, because they know where their kids are. Yet Gatto believes that school conforms students into all being the same indifferent, childish, dependent people. This is another way to think of the school system, compared to all those teacher as savior movies. Another thing that he said is how the students are bored, and blame what they're learning as the source of their boredom, and that the teachers are bored as well, and blame their students. That bells mean stop what you're doing and whatever you are doing doesn't matter enough to be completed. He feels like there are a lot of successful people that thrived outside of the school system, either by being home-schooled or taught outside of school. (Such as 'George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln') This is a different way to think about schools, compared to the philosophers and films that show school as the best place for people to start.
Paulo Freire-Paulo Freire discusses the banking method of teaching (where teachers insert knowledge and have their kids memorize it) compared to the idea that teachers and students should work together to process what they know and how this can be applied to themselves and the world around them. His book Pedagogy of The Oppressed discusses the oppressed -the people being weighed down-, and the oppressor, the figure that is doing the weighing down. There are two different types of possible relationships between teachers and their students in school: "teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers." (Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of The Oppressed, Page 80) The 'teacher-of-the-students' with the 'students-of-the-teacher' is a relationship where the teacher is doing the teaching, and the students are the ones dutifully memorizing what the teacher is saying and supposed to be learning. While the 'teacher-student' and 'students-teachers' is a relationship where the teachers are learning from their kids, and their kids are learning from their teachers.
The relationship where the teachers and students are learning from each other is much healthier than when the teacher is doing the lecturing and the students are the ones taking notes, because the first relationship has the teachers accepting that the students have actual experiences and insights worth sharing, while the teacher that teaches to be heard treats the students as objects and prevents them from learning. It seems that what Freire is saying is that the teacher that is only interested in planting facts in the students' minds is the oppressor, and that the students that are memorizing what the teachers are saying are the oppressed.
Lisa Delpit- believes that schools should have strategies to be able to teach both the kids that have learned the knowledge that help them to learn other things, as well as schools having to be able to provide that step up for the students who have not been given the information to help them learn. She believes that schools should help those who come from homes that cannot provide the education to prepare them for what's to come in school. One thing that she recommends is that teachers should get to know their students not just as students, but to get a glimpse at how they are outside of school. To speak to people that know them when they aren't in school. She also recommended art, as a way to see "students in a different light, whereas before all they saw was what their children couldn't do". Lisa Delpit is one of those teachers that believe that the teacher should build on how their students as individuals already are, and to incorporate that into what they are being taught. She said how if there is a kid in class that is loud and speaks for themselves, that "teachers can create a curriculum based on strengths rather than weaknesses, then they are teaching to their student's needs." In Andy's words, Delpit thinks we need to change the school so it works for everyone in the school.
This connects to Paulo Freire's theory that teachers should be able to help students thrive. She thinks that instead of teachers just teaching by the book, teachers should understand their students and how they can help individuals learn at their own pace and in their own way. This is also like John Keating in Dead Poets Society, who believes that his students have the potential to do what they feel passionate about and to incorporate that into the process of learning. Both John Keating and Lisa Delpit believe that art should be included in how their students learn. As an artist in a school that provides art class only to students for half the year, and only if they choose it, I wish that our school agreed with these teachers. Having art class as a creative outlet provides another way to think and feel. Yet right now, there is an absence of art in school.
SOF Educator(s) - Our school is an example of a different way to be taught and to teach. Given it's name, it was one of the first schools which had ideas that other schools did not (such as using the Habits Of Mind and The Four Pillars). In especially english and 'history' class, there is no such thing as the oppressor and the oppressed, but that students and teachers can interact with each other as a 'healthy' way to learn. Like a lot of other schools, the teachers and principal have hopes that the school can help its students to become individual and life-long learners. When our principal was being interviewed, he said that he thinks our school "models the student as an individual," and that he hopes that "[teachers have] empowered [us] to advocate for [ourselves] in life" and that "[we] should question everything." He also said that "a perfect education is a life long education. After high school. You should keep learning." During the interview he expressed his hopes that school can help us to become our own individuals, and that we can keep learning for the rest of our lives.
Another hope that teachers have is that their students are able to take what they have been taught, and to process it in their own unique way. For english class we had been reading Hamlet, and after we had finished reading we had an assignment to make films showing our own ideas and versions of Hamlet. And once it was through, Mr. Manley wrote us a letter to thank us: "I forget that, in the end, really I am just so grateful to get to spend this time with you, and I am so thankful to you guys for producing some of the work you do, and sharing some of the insight you have." This is an example of a teacher being affected by his student's work, and grateful that we can share some of what we know.
These interviews have helped me to think about what the principal and our teachers expect out of us. For us to keep learning even after high school, and that we are able to think for ourselves. That there are teachers who appreciate what their students have shared with them, instead of the teachers who don't listen to their kids. This is against John Gatto's idea that schools turn us into robots, and it agrees with Paulo Freire's belief that in order to have a flourishing learning environment it cannot be one-sided.
Resources:
-John Gatto, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_Gatto
-The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher by John Taylor Gatto, New York State Teacher of the Year, 1991, http://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html
-Paulo Freire, Pedagogy Of The Oppressed.
-Lisa Delpit: Interview with Lisa Delpit:
Discovering Brilliance in Our Children, interview with Nile Stanley: http://www.flreads.org/Publications/quarterly/samples/delpit_interview.htm
Friday, April 23, 2010
Homework #49, Writing On Film (Or Lack Of Film)
For our film, I hadn't really contributed anything. Other than having to walk in and out of the classroom with my book bag, and to try and be happy to be there on the 'first day of school'. There was the main little group of kids that wanted to investigate and try and save the teacher, and the other people were mostly background people.
Though it never got completed, our film focused mainly on the role of the students as the saviors trying to help the teacher (Jake Westwood) get out of trouble. The idea to have the kids as the liberator is the reverse of how it usually is, in the films we've watched in class including The Dead Poets Society, To Sir, With Love, Blackboard Jungle.. the teacher was always trying to help open their students' eyes. Yet in ours the teacher was a coke-addict, at first secretive but then it was discovered. The teacher was trying to teach "the darker side of history", and the kids were interested. Then there was a rumor circling around about the teacher's addiction, and the kids lost respect for him and stopped paying attention in class. The kids did save the teacher for a while, until the teacher's friend/ brother passes away, and the camera would show the teacher back to his old drug habits again.
The tone is pretty dark. It goes from all the kids being excited to be there, to the rumors spreading. The kids are losing faith in the teacher, and the mood is dimming. The teacher is trying to buy coke.. then gets robbed. This is dark as well, like the dark night Jake Westwood is found on. Then the kids start searching him and the house, and it seems like the mood is getting happier/ positive. It seems that the kids have saved him.. until his brother passes away. And everything goes back to how it started.
Esther's Film Starring Will, Class A, and written by Gavin:
How does the teacher feel about teaching the kids? How does this film compare to the teacher savior films that we watched in class and the theories?
The teacher is a drunk, who stumbles around the room telling the kids that they won't get anywhere in life. It seems like he really wanted to change the kids in a positive way, but they're too into themselves and their friends to notice. So he's frustrated and angry that he can't move them. He's trying to teach the kids about dead poets, and something that can actually help them open their minds to see the bigger pictures in life outside of what they know. Yet the kids keep saying they're bored, and interrupting the teacher. They don't think school is important to them at all, and feel more comfortable staying with what they know.
The students feel like the poets had nothing better to do in life, while they (the students) have purposeful things to do like talking on their cell phones and aim. While the teacher tells them "what these poets realized, and I think that many of you young talents of today don't, is that they had certain nuances of how they talk, they didn't spend their time all on systematic devices such as the one you are sporting right now, to rely on communicating with one another such as a faulty communions so to speak. And how much time do you spend communicating one on one? You're too afraid to do what these dead poets have done, you feel much safer in your cell phone security blankets". Mr. C (the teacher), realizes that the kids won't dare to go outside of the box of what they know. And, he's telling them that the dead poets are braver and more real, because they challenged their thinking and feeling.
The teacher feels like he can predict where the groups of kids are going to be. He pointed out the "smart kids", that don't really know anything about life. He sat next to the "gossip girls" who were talking about prom, and told them that "it's nice to see you doing something that you know, in fact its seems to be the only thing you will know, only thing you can know." And, he predicted where the class clown is going to end up, and identified him with the teacher's own father: "you'll be in a jail cell for twenty years. Say hi to my pop's for me."
This teacher wants to teach his students, yet the process is so frustrating that he has to numb his feelings with alcohol. There are times where he continues to talk, trying to be heard, even when the students are saying "this is boring." A theme that connects to Dead Poets Society, is the teachers teaching about dead poets. Robin William's character (John Keating) recognizes the boy's talents, and looks at them as people, instead of "empty vessels that must be filled". John Keating teaches at a rich private school, filled with white kids. Most of the other professors talk to talk, and don't consider teaching the kids something that will actually help them to get in touch with their own poetential.This connects to Paulo Freire's theories from the Pedagogy Of The Oppressed, where he discusses the banking method of teaching (where teachers insert knowledge and have their kids memorize it) compared to the idea that teachers and students should work together to process what they know and how this can be applied to themselves and the world around them.
Though it never got completed, our film focused mainly on the role of the students as the saviors trying to help the teacher (Jake Westwood) get out of trouble. The idea to have the kids as the liberator is the reverse of how it usually is, in the films we've watched in class including The Dead Poets Society, To Sir, With Love, Blackboard Jungle.. the teacher was always trying to help open their students' eyes. Yet in ours the teacher was a coke-addict, at first secretive but then it was discovered. The teacher was trying to teach "the darker side of history", and the kids were interested. Then there was a rumor circling around about the teacher's addiction, and the kids lost respect for him and stopped paying attention in class. The kids did save the teacher for a while, until the teacher's friend/ brother passes away, and the camera would show the teacher back to his old drug habits again.
The tone is pretty dark. It goes from all the kids being excited to be there, to the rumors spreading. The kids are losing faith in the teacher, and the mood is dimming. The teacher is trying to buy coke.. then gets robbed. This is dark as well, like the dark night Jake Westwood is found on. Then the kids start searching him and the house, and it seems like the mood is getting happier/ positive. It seems that the kids have saved him.. until his brother passes away. And everything goes back to how it started.
Esther's Film Starring Will, Class A, and written by Gavin:
How does the teacher feel about teaching the kids? How does this film compare to the teacher savior films that we watched in class and the theories?
The teacher is a drunk, who stumbles around the room telling the kids that they won't get anywhere in life. It seems like he really wanted to change the kids in a positive way, but they're too into themselves and their friends to notice. So he's frustrated and angry that he can't move them. He's trying to teach the kids about dead poets, and something that can actually help them open their minds to see the bigger pictures in life outside of what they know. Yet the kids keep saying they're bored, and interrupting the teacher. They don't think school is important to them at all, and feel more comfortable staying with what they know.
The students feel like the poets had nothing better to do in life, while they (the students) have purposeful things to do like talking on their cell phones and aim. While the teacher tells them "what these poets realized, and I think that many of you young talents of today don't, is that they had certain nuances of how they talk, they didn't spend their time all on systematic devices such as the one you are sporting right now, to rely on communicating with one another such as a faulty communions so to speak. And how much time do you spend communicating one on one? You're too afraid to do what these dead poets have done, you feel much safer in your cell phone security blankets". Mr. C (the teacher), realizes that the kids won't dare to go outside of the box of what they know. And, he's telling them that the dead poets are braver and more real, because they challenged their thinking and feeling.
The teacher feels like he can predict where the groups of kids are going to be. He pointed out the "smart kids", that don't really know anything about life. He sat next to the "gossip girls" who were talking about prom, and told them that "it's nice to see you doing something that you know, in fact its seems to be the only thing you will know, only thing you can know." And, he predicted where the class clown is going to end up, and identified him with the teacher's own father: "you'll be in a jail cell for twenty years. Say hi to my pop's for me."
This teacher wants to teach his students, yet the process is so frustrating that he has to numb his feelings with alcohol. There are times where he continues to talk, trying to be heard, even when the students are saying "this is boring." A theme that connects to Dead Poets Society, is the teachers teaching about dead poets. Robin William's character (John Keating) recognizes the boy's talents, and looks at them as people, instead of "empty vessels that must be filled". John Keating teaches at a rich private school, filled with white kids. Most of the other professors talk to talk, and don't consider teaching the kids something that will actually help them to get in touch with their own poetential.This connects to Paulo Freire's theories from the Pedagogy Of The Oppressed, where he discusses the banking method of teaching (where teachers insert knowledge and have their kids memorize it) compared to the idea that teachers and students should work together to process what they know and how this can be applied to themselves and the world around them.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Homework #48, Treatment Film Idea
This is late now but I might as well do it..
Setting: Art Class
It is a new school year, in high school and Cassie is trying to get excited for art class. Every year it has been the same boring things. The kids go inside, and take their seats, and are allowed to do whatever they want for the whole class period. It feels pointless to Cassie, because she really wants to learn something for once, to become a better artist. She takes out her sketchbook and sighs, realizing that half of the class isn't even there. Secretly, Cassie sneaks glances at the students sitting next to her and sketches her. Then she looks at some of her other classmates and draws them as well.
The next day Cassie goes in, and takes a seat in the corner by herself. But instead of taking out her notebook, she just sits there. She is moved by nothing and wishing that there was something to do. There are even less of her classmates in class today, and her teacher seems upset. Then, Cassie gets an idea. She asks her teacher Ms. Mansi why she doesn't teach anything in class, when they're supposed to be learning how to become young artists.
Ms. Mansi is dumbfounded, because she had no idea that that was the reason for the absence of students in her classroom. After school that day, Ms. Mansi sits at her desk and tries to think of what to do. She is conflicted between being scared that if she tries something new she will lose the little amount of students she has left, and knowing that the other students she lost got bored and left.
The next day, Ms. Mansi goes to class, and asks Cassie if she could round up all of the kids that have been skipping for her. She thinks that she has an idea for an engaging activity. The next day, Cassie has successfully managed to round up all of her missing classmates. Appreciating it, Ms. Mansi makes an announcement that the class is going on a field trip, and that the principal has already okayed it. Confused where they are going, there students abruptly start muttering amongst themselves. Looking over at Ms. Mansi, Cassie sees that she is starting to get upset, and calmly gets the class to be quiet. She tells Ms. Mansi that she should tell the class where they are going. Grateful to have the floor, Ms. Mansi tells the class that they are going to be needing their notebooks, because they are going to the butterfly show at the Natural History Museum, to learn how to sketch the butterflies and flowers.
Excited, the students grab their bags and line up, waiting for Ms. Mansi to lead the way. After the subway ride, the class arrives at the museum. Ms. Mansi is leading the way, with Cassie at the back of the group. They try really hard to make sure everyone gets to the butterfly room safely. Once they arrive, Cassie realizes that some of the kids are missing. Worried that Ms. Mansi will notice and get upset again, Cassie excuses herself to go to the 'bathroom'. Wandering around the museum, Cassie comes across some of the students and asks them to go to the butterfly room. They agree to, and Cassie keeps walking. She has the idea to check the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth. Among the crowd of people, Cassie sees some familiar faces of her classmates. Quietly tapping them on the shoulder to get their attention, Cassie rounds up the crowd of couples snuggling in the dark, and the loners. With them helping her, Cassie manages to gather up all of her classmates, and successfully brings them back to the Butterfly Conservatory.
The rest of the day goes well, with all of Ms. Mansi's students intrigued by sketches of butterflies. Cassie and Ms. Mansi round up the kids, and safely transport them all back to school. Once they arrive in the classroom, the students eagerly share their sketches with each other. The day ends, with the class looking forward to and wondering how the next day will be. As Cassie is about to leave, she looks around the class and realizes two people are missing. And, she smiles, knowing right away where they must be: still in the dark room under the stars.
Setting: Art Class
It is a new school year, in high school and Cassie is trying to get excited for art class. Every year it has been the same boring things. The kids go inside, and take their seats, and are allowed to do whatever they want for the whole class period. It feels pointless to Cassie, because she really wants to learn something for once, to become a better artist. She takes out her sketchbook and sighs, realizing that half of the class isn't even there. Secretly, Cassie sneaks glances at the students sitting next to her and sketches her. Then she looks at some of her other classmates and draws them as well.
The next day Cassie goes in, and takes a seat in the corner by herself. But instead of taking out her notebook, she just sits there. She is moved by nothing and wishing that there was something to do. There are even less of her classmates in class today, and her teacher seems upset. Then, Cassie gets an idea. She asks her teacher Ms. Mansi why she doesn't teach anything in class, when they're supposed to be learning how to become young artists.
Ms. Mansi is dumbfounded, because she had no idea that that was the reason for the absence of students in her classroom. After school that day, Ms. Mansi sits at her desk and tries to think of what to do. She is conflicted between being scared that if she tries something new she will lose the little amount of students she has left, and knowing that the other students she lost got bored and left.
The next day, Ms. Mansi goes to class, and asks Cassie if she could round up all of the kids that have been skipping for her. She thinks that she has an idea for an engaging activity. The next day, Cassie has successfully managed to round up all of her missing classmates. Appreciating it, Ms. Mansi makes an announcement that the class is going on a field trip, and that the principal has already okayed it. Confused where they are going, there students abruptly start muttering amongst themselves. Looking over at Ms. Mansi, Cassie sees that she is starting to get upset, and calmly gets the class to be quiet. She tells Ms. Mansi that she should tell the class where they are going. Grateful to have the floor, Ms. Mansi tells the class that they are going to be needing their notebooks, because they are going to the butterfly show at the Natural History Museum, to learn how to sketch the butterflies and flowers.
Excited, the students grab their bags and line up, waiting for Ms. Mansi to lead the way. After the subway ride, the class arrives at the museum. Ms. Mansi is leading the way, with Cassie at the back of the group. They try really hard to make sure everyone gets to the butterfly room safely. Once they arrive, Cassie realizes that some of the kids are missing. Worried that Ms. Mansi will notice and get upset again, Cassie excuses herself to go to the 'bathroom'. Wandering around the museum, Cassie comes across some of the students and asks them to go to the butterfly room. They agree to, and Cassie keeps walking. She has the idea to check the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth. Among the crowd of people, Cassie sees some familiar faces of her classmates. Quietly tapping them on the shoulder to get their attention, Cassie rounds up the crowd of couples snuggling in the dark, and the loners. With them helping her, Cassie manages to gather up all of her classmates, and successfully brings them back to the Butterfly Conservatory.
The rest of the day goes well, with all of Ms. Mansi's students intrigued by sketches of butterflies. Cassie and Ms. Mansi round up the kids, and safely transport them all back to school. Once they arrive in the classroom, the students eagerly share their sketches with each other. The day ends, with the class looking forward to and wondering how the next day will be. As Cassie is about to leave, she looks around the class and realizes two people are missing. And, she smiles, knowing right away where they must be: still in the dark room under the stars.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Homework #47, Brainstorming For Class Film
Ideas (in no specific order):
**It could just be something written on the board, and the writing keeps changing. Like the video for Bad Day (closer to the end of the video, starting at 2:24ish). Somehow making it look like time has gone by. An example couple be a blank board, except for in the middle someone could have written "school is_____" and the word in the blank could keep changing.
*A paper ball fight set in Andy's classroom. This is a good example of chaos. Except for instead of just being paper balls they should be opened at some point to reveal surveys. Like.. do you like school? what is your favorite class?
* It should be like the walk around advisory last semester, where the class is walking around the city and the teacher is trying to get the class' attention, by stopping in random buildings and parks and teaching the class.
*An empty classroom with only Andy in it. The film should show only Andy, talking, and then the camera should zoom out and show that no one is sitting in any of the seats. And there should be that corny cricket noise in the background when the film shows that Andy is really talking to himself.
*Andy at the front of the room with all the survey questions on the board. "Raise your hand if you like waking up and going to school every morning?" etc. (we already did this once).
* A game of telephone that is school related as well as being school appropriate.
* Something set in the hallway. Students sitting and the teacher walking around being annoying and trying to get the classes' attention.
* A film comparing a classroom that does by textbooks (kind of like Ms Vasco's class when she was mad) compared to Andy's class where the students get to participate more.
* The mood of the film could be really calm and peaceful, so the kids would have to be busy writing or taking a survey or something.
*Somehow get the mood across as all the kids being antsy, and hardly being able to sit still (eager for class to be over before lunchtime as an example).
**It could just be something written on the board, and the writing keeps changing. Like the video for Bad Day (closer to the end of the video, starting at 2:24ish). Somehow making it look like time has gone by. An example couple be a blank board, except for in the middle someone could have written "school is_____" and the word in the blank could keep changing.
*A paper ball fight set in Andy's classroom. This is a good example of chaos. Except for instead of just being paper balls they should be opened at some point to reveal surveys. Like.. do you like school? what is your favorite class?
* It should be like the walk around advisory last semester, where the class is walking around the city and the teacher is trying to get the class' attention, by stopping in random buildings and parks and teaching the class.
*An empty classroom with only Andy in it. The film should show only Andy, talking, and then the camera should zoom out and show that no one is sitting in any of the seats. And there should be that corny cricket noise in the background when the film shows that Andy is really talking to himself.
*Andy at the front of the room with all the survey questions on the board. "Raise your hand if you like waking up and going to school every morning?" etc. (we already did this once).
* A game of telephone that is school related as well as being school appropriate.
* Something set in the hallway. Students sitting and the teacher walking around being annoying and trying to get the classes' attention.
* A film comparing a classroom that does by textbooks (kind of like Ms Vasco's class when she was mad) compared to Andy's class where the students get to participate more.
* The mood of the film could be really calm and peaceful, so the kids would have to be busy writing or taking a survey or something.
*Somehow get the mood across as all the kids being antsy, and hardly being able to sit still (eager for class to be over before lunchtime as an example).
Homework #46, "Teaching With Fire"
"Teaching With Fire" is a book of poems that have been submitted by teachers. "Through electronic mail, networks, and word of mouth, we spread the word that we were seeking poems that mattered to teachers". So it is a book compiled of poems that matter to teachers. The book is separated into eight sections, and each section has a different idea. Or something. Everyone who submitted a poem has a page about the first time they came across the poem, or how they feel about the poem, or both. Some of the pages also say where in their classroom they keep the poem, and how it has motivated them to teach. Some of the sections in this book include why teachers were inspired to teach, the struggles they faced while teaching, and how teachers make a change in the world.
One of my favorite poems in this book is Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost:
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
This poem makes me think of how some things that are good can't last forever. Like a tree that is in bloom with beautiful flowers now might not be here when the seasons change, but that it will be back again.
My topic was how can poetry be incorporated into school/ how do teachers use poetry. "Teaching With Fire" is a whole book on how poetry has inspired and influenced teachers. To teach with fire is to go outside the box (or in this case book), and to teach differently. One teacher in the book read the poem Fueled by Marcie Hans to her students, and had them go out on an outing to interact with nature. She says in the page before the poem "We discussed the poem, memorized it, and vowed to celebrate whatever 'springtime miracles' we found". This is an example of teaching differently, and having students do an activity based around a poem. This is also similar to the poet Taylor Mali, who I spoke about in this post. While the teachers that haver submitted poems picked poems that were not by themselves, Taylor Mali happens to be a teacher as well as a poet. He writes poems about his students, and how he teaches.
Another idea from the poem From Preface to Leaves of Grass by Walt Witman is (it's the first visible paragraph):
"Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul and your very flesh shall be a great poem" this is similar to the saying "Question Authority". To actually process information that is given to you and to have your own opinion on things. This can also be used for teachers who do their own thing while they're teaching. There is a way to teach like the traditional teacher, yet people (students in this case) get bored of things that are always the same. The films that we watched in class where the teacher comes in, and the students are either bored, and or chaotic and then the teachers find ways to get the kids' attention.. is a good example of teachers doing their own thing. What I'm trying to say is that I wanted to see how poetry can be brought into a classroom and used to teach students, and "Teaching With Fire" is a good example of how teachers have been influenced by poetry.
One of my favorite poems in this book is Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost:
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
This poem makes me think of how some things that are good can't last forever. Like a tree that is in bloom with beautiful flowers now might not be here when the seasons change, but that it will be back again.
My topic was how can poetry be incorporated into school/ how do teachers use poetry. "Teaching With Fire" is a whole book on how poetry has inspired and influenced teachers. To teach with fire is to go outside the box (or in this case book), and to teach differently. One teacher in the book read the poem Fueled by Marcie Hans to her students, and had them go out on an outing to interact with nature. She says in the page before the poem "We discussed the poem, memorized it, and vowed to celebrate whatever 'springtime miracles' we found". This is an example of teaching differently, and having students do an activity based around a poem. This is also similar to the poet Taylor Mali, who I spoke about in this post. While the teachers that haver submitted poems picked poems that were not by themselves, Taylor Mali happens to be a teacher as well as a poet. He writes poems about his students, and how he teaches.
Another idea from the poem From Preface to Leaves of Grass by Walt Witman is (it's the first visible paragraph):
"Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul and your very flesh shall be a great poem" this is similar to the saying "Question Authority". To actually process information that is given to you and to have your own opinion on things. This can also be used for teachers who do their own thing while they're teaching. There is a way to teach like the traditional teacher, yet people (students in this case) get bored of things that are always the same. The films that we watched in class where the teacher comes in, and the students are either bored, and or chaotic and then the teachers find ways to get the kids' attention.. is a good example of teachers doing their own thing. What I'm trying to say is that I wanted to see how poetry can be brought into a classroom and used to teach students, and "Teaching With Fire" is a good example of how teachers have been influenced by poetry.
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