Paolo

Paulo Freire talks on curiosity does compares to the reading "Banking Method of Education" in many ways. In the video he explains how students and teachers need to stay curious about learning and never need to stop learning. In Freier's writing he also explains a similar idea, he explains how teachers need to be open to students when it comes to learning as well as students staying open minded to teachers when it comes to learning as well. In the video Frier also explains that teachers need to help students understand that their thinking and opinions are as interesting and "Beautiful" as the teachers. This idea is also agreed upon in his writing, Freire talks about the banking method of learning and how it doesn't help students understand the teacher or thri way of teaching, it forces students to be force feed ideas and not given the opportunity to explain themselves. Freire als otouches apon the idea of letting the students speak and to encourage them to speak, again this idea is shadowed in his writing on how the "Banking Method" of learning is not the right one.

section 3 notes

How public education cripples our kids, and why

I taught for thirty years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan, and in some of the best, and during that time I became an expert in boredom. Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids, as I often did, why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around. They said teachers didn't seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren't interested in learning more. And the kids were right: their teachers were every bit as bored as they were.

I believe that in John Grotto’s work “Against School”, he is explaining how the current school system we have now is not teaching anything to students. “They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it.” Here he explains that the students feel that they learn nothing, he explains how the students feel about their work which obviously is not good.  “They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around. They said teachers didn't seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren't interested in learning more.” And here he explains how the students wanted to learn new things but were not able to due to the teachers not knowing their own subject or wanting to learn more about it themselves. “Teachers were every bit as bored as they were.” Lastly here he explains the problem. If the teachers are as bored as the students then the students will not learn anything because there is no instinctive to learn.  

We agree that Gatto is right but wrong, with opinion. In the writing there are many examples of bias due to his experience in Manhattan.  “I taught for thirty years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan, and in some of the best, and during that time I became an expert in boredom.” Here he generalizes all schools with what he learned or experienced in Manhattan. “Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers” Again this is bias from what he learns, and this is his personal belief. Yes in school there are good teachers and bad teachers, but to claim all of them to be “Bored” is unfair, and not right. “Of course, teachers are themselves products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students,” Yes it is true that the teachers come from the same school system as us, but all teachers come from a different era and area of school from us, which makes their school experience different from ours. “Who wouldn't get bored teaching students who are rude and interested only in grades? If even that.” While this is true for the most part in teachers who have the misfortune of having a bad class, some teacher do not find this as an excuse and actually make the students thrive. This idea of teachers taking a “Bad” class as a challenge and then turn around and make the students thrive can be seen in the Jaime Escalante case where he turned a class of students who would have dropped out and help them thrive in school. 

My Experience in high school VS Gatto's

High school was a wired thing for me, like most other people, it had its ups and downs and all a round’s, but for the most part it was good. My first high school was Kinnick high school on the U.S navy base in Yokosuka Japan. I didn't like it much at first, I was hazed by the other African American students for not conforming the “Black” stereotype on a daily bases. But they still used me when they needed help with homework. I was also hazed by the Philippine American group, again for not conforming to the “black” stereotype. It is also at this school where I would learn to grow up. As you can imagine constantly being hazed every day changes you, I didn’t conform to the stereotype they wanted me to be, but I did (through a series of successful and unsuccessful attempts” to gain their respect. I was able to gain respect by loosening up on topics and in my attitude in general. I pulled the metaphorical stick out of my ass as they would say, well without the metaphorical part. I actually got to know people and people got to know me, I also took part in volunteering opportunities through our JROTC program and through the Red Cross program, this got some of the student’s attention and people respected me for working for something bigger than myself. Still I was made fun of every now and then. But just when I thought I had gained the school status I wanted, my family and I were transferred to here to Washington. I would finish my high school years here in Washington and to some things up I loved it. I took part in school sports for the first time and got to meet tons of people through that, my classes were easy to me, I loved the teachers, and I got extra attention (both good and bad) from the students and teachers being one of the seven African American students at the school. All in all I love high school, I grew up in high school and learned tons of things I never knew. Now as you can see my high school experience was the complete opposite of what Grotto has written. He calls high school a place where students don’t learn anything and is boring, if this is true then why do I see so many smiles whenever I was at high school, why did I hear so many laughs? Why did I see so many happy people? Why you ask, because people were happy when they were at school, well for the most part anyway. Now when it comes to learning he may have a point, but learning is not totally at fault of the school or the program, most learning comes from how much the students want to learn. If the student does not want to learn then they won’t, you can’t force a student to learn. Some learning disability is at fault of the school though, bad teachers can hinder the learning ability of already bad students. It also makes students who don’t want to learn lose faith in the educational system and drop out.  Also I am not happy how he bases all high schools on his experience, it opens up for bias and makes him sound like an awful teacher, in my opinion. Also he claims that teachers have the same high school experience as the students, and again this is wrong, teachers are people to, people with different experiences and looks on life. Also there is a time difference between teachers and students, and as we know new things are being taught to students every year. So claiming that the teachers and the students have the same school experience is bogus.   All in all I do not agree completely with what Gotto is trying to say about high school, and my high school experience was completely opposite of what Grotto wrote in the paper we read as a class.  

Essay 2 draft/ completed work.

Paul Bradley

English 101

The Comparison of Two Phenomenal Teachers

In this world there are two types of teachers, those that are good and those that are not good. A good teacher can adapt to their students learning ability and will constantly encourage students to do better. A bad teacher will do one way of teaching and one way of teaching only, they do not care about their students at all. I have had many teachers in my journey through school. But out of all of those teachers two stick out to me, to teachers who have had great impacts in my ability to learn. They were both great teachers and I am happy that I have had them.

Enter junior year of high school in AP US history, our introduction "In my class you will learn. Those who do not like my teaching can leave now. Those who stay though... will learn more about US history than any other group in this school." This came from a short woman with a manly haircut, those who did not know that she was married to a guy would assume she was swinging for the other team based on appearance alone. If you based her off of her attitude, which only further made people believe she was lesbian, you would be greeted by a mannerism that reflected her hardened 30 years of military experience perfectly, also you would think she was a guy. My first impressions were not the greatest I believed she would only do things her way and didn't care about her student. Greatly to my surprise Mrs. Smith ended up being a very helpful and inspiring teacher. Mrs. Smith took teaching in the same manner I believe she used during her military career, to the point and very very efficient. She would put up visual aids when ever she gave a lecture, provide interesting and funny facts about history, and made sure we were always paying attention and learned. Another amazing thing about her was her ability to learn what every kid was like in her class. About two weeks in she classified me as the kid who “Asks a ton of question, most of which are good the other’s make you sound like a kindergartener learning the lies and false facts about U.S history that sound good in the books.” But she encouraged me asking worthwhile questions, after every slide in her lecture without even looking she would say, “Paul, have any questions?” and before I could answer she would say “Make sure their not stupid or ones you can answer yourself.” This would cause me to think before asking questions and it got me to the point of only asking worthwhile questions. Another great trait she had was encouraging students to come in after or before school to get help on homework or make up quizzes. I would always go in after school to get help for her tests and to get help with homework. She would not complain about it at all she would only say “Either you care a lot about your studies, or you don’t have a life.” This humor of hers would always pop up in our class and would help lighten the mood. She never complained about teaching, she treated us like adults, and at least to me she was a building block that helped me get better in my studies in general. She would never let me quit at something, she would always say “Look, you have been in this class for a semester and you want to quit now? After all you have done you just want to quit, that’s it no questions about it. Fine if you want to be stupid and wasteful with your talents and waste my time with bad work, fine just quit it would save me time anyway. Or you could stop turning in garbage, re do your old work better, do more extra credit and get the grade you deserve and have worked hard for to get.” She never let me just give up she always made me press on and continue to do good in her class. This I would assume would come from her hardened year in the military.

In school some teachers would always throw biases about what classes you should take the next year. I was told that if I took pre-calculus that I would be more wanted by colleges. The only thing is, they do not tell you that this class will only count if you can get an A or better in it. Needless to say I got suckered in by this idea and I regretted it, that is until I would meet the best math teacher of my life, that teacher is Mr. Pochop. On the first day I expected to be bombarded with work that I couldn’t possibly understand, by a teacher that was uncaring if students. To my surprise I got what appeared to be Steve Jobs walking from one side to the other of a power point and advertising his new product, pre-calculus. Mr. Pochop was a heavier set tall man that was over enthusiastic about teaching to my opinion the most boring class to teach. But despite all of my disliking towards math, I was won over by Mr. Pochops ability to come in guns blazing with the high octane sugar rush of a fifth grader, in other words he was very excited to teach math. He never spoke quietly, he always had my attention, and he never let me stay confused about a question. He was inspiring, at one point I talked to him about dropping out of pre-calculus to which he answered “You know what pre-calculus, actually math in general is not for everyone. Some people get it and some people don’t. But I think that you get it you just need another spark to ignite the fire. How’s about you come in after or before school for some help. If things don’t get any better I will let you drop out. But if things go like I believe they will, I look forward to seeing you in my class next quarter.” This speech he gave me not only inspired me to go in after class, but it also got me to like math. As confusing as it is with Mr. Pochop’s help I found math fun. I began to see massive improvements in my grade and through all of this I found out that MR. Pochop does not just like teaching math, but he likes teaching in general. Every time I would go in for help there would always be two or three other students also getting his help, and by the end of it all we all began to get math more and more. He never complained about spending more time with students after school, he never complained about sacrificing his sleep time to come to school early to help students, he only greeted us with a smile and said “Alright what do we got to do today” he was an amazing teacher, one that without I would have definitely dropped the class.

When I look back at the memories I have of both of these great effigies and models of the teaching system, I see the similarities and comparisons. Either teachers were good to students and cared about them, both never let me or other students quit, both volunteered their time to students when they could easily just go home, and bot inspired me to do better. IF not for both of these teachers I believe I would have not learned nearly as much as I did, nor would I have the same good feelings when it comes to the teaching system. When all is said and done both Mrs. Smith and Mr. Pochop are extraordinary teacher that go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to teaching, and I am happy that I have had them in my life as a student.

Dead poets society notes

boring boring boring, all of the teachers are boring. All of the old teachers have a hive mind on how things should be done. This not only fails on a teaching stand point but it also does not get them ready for the "real world" this form of teaching teaches kids that the world works in one way and one way only, it always conforms to what you say and has a set way of things that never changes. When in reality the world is constantly changing and never follows the same rules. It also leaves a big gap of what happens in college. All of the students are sheltered to the point where they do not know anything outside of following rules. These student will fall pray to partying and may drop out due to the lack of knowledge they have about the real world.

Mr. Keating's introduces a totally new way of teaching to the kids. He chooses to inspire the students not threaten them. He is funny, he goes to extreme extents to prove that words matter. He defends his teachings. He encourages students to leave their comfort zones.    The principle sacrifices the students thinking for themselves for his own form of teaching. His love for teaching he teaches the actor. A teacher should not just be a teacher, but a mentor and a leader as well. Teaching is not just about jamming information into students minds but about letting them experience what learning is.

The first essay

Paul Bradley

English 101

10-17-13

Learning My Conscious

The mind is a wonderful mysterious thing that has some parts of it that we may never find nor completely understand. But despite all the mystery behind the human psyche there are a few parts of it that we do understand why they are there and what they are used for. One such part is the human conscious, the little mind in the back of our heads that tells us right from wrong. I have had the amazing educational journey of finding out and learning how to use it. It starts in us all when we first begin to grasp what is good or bad, and we begin to better learn how to judge our actions better. Without my conscious I believe that I would be reduced to an inhuman animal only living off instincts there by turning myself into a monster. Needless to say I am happy that I have a conscience and that I have learned how to use it properly to shape me into the person I am today.   

When we are born we only have a base knowledge on what happens around us, it isn’t until later in life that we begin to understand the concept of right from wrong. For me this new found understanding would come in the shape of guilt. When I would do something bad I would feel guilty about it and wonder why I felt so bad for doing it. One such case would be when I called one of my fellow kindergarten mates a mean name, I knew that saying the word was wrong and should not be used but I decided that I would use it any way. It would take a few seconds for my little child mind to somewhat comprehend what I had done, but when it hit me that what I said was wrong and mean I immediately found my friend and apologized. After this event I sat down and felt a brief sense of satisfaction, like I had done something good. From this I would learn that certain feelings would come from the actions I chose, I could be the “Good Guy” and feel great about what I had done, or I could be the “Bad Guy” and feel bad and horrible about what I did. These feelings would teach me how to better choose what path or choice to take. This would be the start of how I would learn how to use my conscience it would also lead to me becoming what I am today. The feeling of feeling good will find its way into my mind more and more as I began to comprehend my actions as I got older, but as the feeling of satisfaction would continue to grow, so would the feeling of disappointment when I would do something bad. As time would go on more and more things about my conscience would become more and more clear to me, there would come the time when I would have to learn to choose from being right or wrong, when I would have to choose between being righteous or being cynical. One day this idea of choosing would come in the form of how I would spend my money for during Christmas time. I had just received my paycheck from the newspaper office and headed down to the store to buy things for presents, the problem was that I saw a new game that I caught my eye but knew I would not have enough money to buy it and get all the gifts that I wanted to get for my family. I was stuck between what I thought at the time to be a rock and a hard place. I could buy myself that video game and be happy, or I could buy all the presents I wanted to get my family. Looking back I took longer to make my decision than I would have preferred, the right choice being to buy gifts for my family, but the outcome was satisfactory. I decided it would be better for my whole family to be happy than just me, so I bought the gifts for the family. Needless to say when all was said and done I was happy with my decision, I still wanted that video game though.

As life would go on and on more and more choices like the ones that are presented would show up and I would deal with them as each one presented itself. Sometimes I would make the right choice, other times I would choose the obvious wrong choice and regret that I had been weak and chose to be wrong instead of being right. With all of these choices I would learn more and more about how to better use my conscience  and how learning to use it would help me learn who I really am, I am a nice guy who strives to make all of the right choices and at times can get blinded and frustrated with the choices I make. It is funny to think that learning something would come in the form of learning how to use something we can’t fully comprehend, but then again there are a lot of things we do not understand as human beings and that the few things that we do understand we learn how to better use them and the things that we learn shape who we turn into as people and dictate the actions and choices we take every day. And with those choices we shape the world into the world we live in. I am happy to have learned how to use my conscience and how I learned to dictate what is right and what is wrong, and at the end of the day I can go to sleep easy that through my life and what I have learned of my conscience I make good decisions and that I am a good person not a crazed inhuman evil animalistic being that works off of pure animal instinct alone.

Stand and Deliver

The Teacher does not adapt to the group of students that he has, granted this is just the first day. I do admire though his attempt to make a joke to appeal to the class. He uses physical examples and questions the class with what they have, then makes jokes to get the attention of the class. He puts the bad kids in the front of the class, then makes fun of him by insulting the bad kid in the same way the kid tried to insult him. He doesn't back down from the gang boys and stands his ground. He stops a fight and. He again insults the bad kids further putting them down. He is persistent with trying to teach the bad kids. He begins to get the respect of the students. He uses multiple teaching techniques to help the class. He defends the students in the teacher counsel. He willingly helps the students. I admire how he openly humiliates students. He Goes the extra mile to make sure that the kids get the education they need.

From the beginning of the movie Mr. Escalante is seen to insult students to get them to do work. One scene is when he confronts a student who gives him the middle finger. Mr Escalante then calls him finger boy from that point on and insults his intelligence. This is effective  teaching because it demonstrates that the teacher is not willing to put up with students "games" and shows that he can bite back with equally witty remarks. Another scene of good teaching is when Mr. Escalante uses multiple teaching methods to get the class to learn. He does so by not only using his board but by also making his students repeat what is written on the board. But best of all Mr. Ecalante refuses to give up on students and persist by teaching harder and harder classes and having all of his students continue on with each class.

How I view teaching

Teaching can be done in many ways, some are better than others but really it depends on the student who is taking in the knowledge from the teacher. A good teacher is someone who can adapt to the learning patterns of students, and can keep class entertaining so students do not get distracted. Also it is important to have a teacher who actually cares about their students and is willing to spend extra time helping them. A bad teacher does not care about students, does not care who learns and who doesn't, and teaches out of the book with no variation in teaching methods.